The Never-Ending Dance

As I listened to the shrill ringing of my alarm clock this morning, I heaved a heavy sigh of what sounded like anguish and pulled the covers over my head to grab another 10 minutes of sleep. 

Yes, I have to admit getting up and getting going was pretty tough for me this morning.

We are about three weeks into the new school year here in the Atlanta area, and I am worn out. I do not know about you, but when my alarm went off this morning I did not eagerly jump up and say, "OK guys, rise and shine and embrace the day!"

No, instead I said to myself, “Not yet, I need more sleep!"

While laying there in my cocoon of nothingness, a small voice inside kept saying persevere, persevere, and remain steadfast. So I slowly crawled out of my comfort zone, awakened my children and got on with the business of starting my day. 

After praying and studying out God’s word, I was reminded of the story of Ma Li, who at the age of 19 and in the prime of a promising ballet career, lost her right arm in a car accident.

Over the next nine years, she would have to endure many hardships: loosing the man she loved; the discouragement of, after pressing on and continuing her dancing career, again saying goodbye to it because the SARS outbreak of 2004 closed all the theaters in China; and sleeping under bridges. 

Ma Li showed the strength and perseverance that most of us could only begin to imagine. And there I was, grumbling about having to get out of a comfortable bed and walking down a nicely decorated hallway to awaken my two healthy children so that they could begin their journey to two beautiful schools in a nice suburban community, where they receive some of the best education in the state. 

I do not use these descriptions to boast of what I have. I use them because they reminded me of how fortunate I am and how ungrateful I can be at times.

With all that I have been blessed with, I should always be thankful and not complain because of what I may consider a disruption of my momentary comfort. 

I would like to share with you the scriptures and the reflective questions that helped me to get moving this morning.

~Hebrews 10:36 reads: "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. 

This scripture is very powerful to me because it gives me the hope I need to keep on. Even when I am tired and just feel like taking it easy, I have to endure—especially when it comes to my children. God entrusted them to me, and it is my responsibility to be a Godly example to them of what a mom is.

~1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. 

• Are you persevering in prayer for your children?
• Are you praying specific prayers daily about your children’s day, their teachers, and the children they encounter?

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it. ~Proverbs 22:6

• How are you doing with keeping your children focused on spiritual activities?
• When the weekend rolls around, are you taking the attitude of, “Oh well they need a break,” or are you still monitoring their activities and the friends they hangout with?

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, “Children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among the stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. ~Philippians 2:12-16

• How are you doing spiritually?
• Are you taking the needed time to make sure you are doing what it takes to stay connected to God?

As business women, wives and mothers, like Ma Li we to have to dance the never-ending dance of perseverance. You see after all the hardships and grueling practices she had to endure, Ma Li found true love and went on to dance a spectacular performance where she and dance partner Zhai Xiaowei won the hearts of millions as the first ever handicapped couple to enter the China Central Television Dance Competition.

Ma Li after endurance and perseverance received all the glory that went along with her accomplishment. We too have to preserve in the hopes of one day achieving the eternal glory that is promised to us.