.......
Crash
.......
and
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Burn
.......
.......
There comes a time in everyone's life where they are at a high. There is also lows in life. You never get to a high point in life without having a low time. It's like the laws of gravity. You can play with gravity. You can try and change them. You can defy them only by leaving the earth's atmosphere. But they're always there. The law never changes. You leap, and you fall....
I run across the studio floor, arms out in front of me in First. My toes points as I come off the ground, spreading my legs apart, and bring my arms up to Second Arabesque. I stay up in the air as long as I can, then come down, my right foot hitting the ground first, rolling from the toes to the heel of my foot. All my weight lands on my toes, and then my ankle. As I finish landing, I bring the left foot to the floor, standing up straight once again. And then I feel it. The pain shoots from my toes, to my ankle and I cringe. All the pressure I put on my foot aches, but only for a moment before I am fine again. It's strange how that works out. "You didn't roll through your foot properly," my dance teacher says. I thought I had. And this is where I groan, because I've been trying to do it properly for a long time. And still, for some reason, I haven't learned. I try again, and this time I do it right. But then the third time, I do it wrong again. My ankle is sore, my legs hurt, my head pounds, and I'm on the edge of giving up on the grand jete. "One more time," she says. (One more time is always a lie in dance class, by the way.) So I get ready. I start at the corner. I put my arms up and get my "pretty fingers" ready. I run, and I leap, spreading my legs out again. I land, rolling through the foot, standing up and smiling. My knees weren't bent, my toes pointed, and my ankle doesn't hurt this time. My teacher smiles at me. Now I feel like I have accomplished something for the day.
It might not seem like a hard thing to do. But it is. And there's a lot to think about while you're up in the air. You can't bend your knees, you have to point your feet, think up and straight, don't bend your back, land on your front foot and roll through. But it's just a jump! You say.
It's just life, I reply.
We're all on the dance floor. Our heart beat is our music, and we dance. We get ready to grand jete. This is it! This is what you've been waiting for. This is the grand moment. You are going to make the whole class proud. You are going to make your teacher proud, your parents proud. This is it! And you leap, and you forget to point your toes, you bend your knees and your back slants forward a little. When you land, your ankle rolls and you fall. This was going to be it, you cry. This was going to be the moment. Yet, you failed. Too much pride got in your way. You had too much confidence inside yourself, instead of in Christ. "It's a stupid jump," you say as you peel yourself off the floor. You walk back to the corner as your teacher tells you to try again. Maybe you groan, or maybe your hold yourself up high and you do as you are supposed. Maybe you fail the jump again, or perhaps this time you listened to all the instructions and you make a perfect Arabesque or Grand Jete. Or maybe you just give up all together.
Don't. give. up.
There's worst things out there than falling. "Falling down is life. But getting back up, that's living."
~unknown. So you miss. You don't twirl right, you don't jump right in the dance of life. But you get back up. Because falling down is what happens on occasion, stumbling is inevitable. Make it apart of the dance. God's got your back. Just like my dance teacher, He will give you as many times as you need. "One more time, Child," He whispers. "Listen to my instructions, and you won't fall, you won't fail, you will make that leap."
It's faith.
It's the high and lows in life.
Maybe you crash and burn. So what? Get back up, because that is living. Maybe you stumble forward instead of standing straight up. So what? Don't let it bring you down, 'kay?
~S.E.
I run across the studio floor, arms out in front of me in First. My toes points as I come off the ground, spreading my legs apart, and bring my arms up to Second Arabesque. I stay up in the air as long as I can, then come down, my right foot hitting the ground first, rolling from the toes to the heel of my foot. All my weight lands on my toes, and then my ankle. As I finish landing, I bring the left foot to the floor, standing up straight once again. And then I feel it. The pain shoots from my toes, to my ankle and I cringe. All the pressure I put on my foot aches, but only for a moment before I am fine again. It's strange how that works out. "You didn't roll through your foot properly," my dance teacher says. I thought I had. And this is where I groan, because I've been trying to do it properly for a long time. And still, for some reason, I haven't learned. I try again, and this time I do it right. But then the third time, I do it wrong again. My ankle is sore, my legs hurt, my head pounds, and I'm on the edge of giving up on the grand jete. "One more time," she says. (One more time is always a lie in dance class, by the way.) So I get ready. I start at the corner. I put my arms up and get my "pretty fingers" ready. I run, and I leap, spreading my legs out again. I land, rolling through the foot, standing up and smiling. My knees weren't bent, my toes pointed, and my ankle doesn't hurt this time. My teacher smiles at me. Now I feel like I have accomplished something for the day.
It might not seem like a hard thing to do. But it is. And there's a lot to think about while you're up in the air. You can't bend your knees, you have to point your feet, think up and straight, don't bend your back, land on your front foot and roll through. But it's just a jump! You say.
It's just life, I reply.
We're all on the dance floor. Our heart beat is our music, and we dance. We get ready to grand jete. This is it! This is what you've been waiting for. This is the grand moment. You are going to make the whole class proud. You are going to make your teacher proud, your parents proud. This is it! And you leap, and you forget to point your toes, you bend your knees and your back slants forward a little. When you land, your ankle rolls and you fall. This was going to be it, you cry. This was going to be the moment. Yet, you failed. Too much pride got in your way. You had too much confidence inside yourself, instead of in Christ. "It's a stupid jump," you say as you peel yourself off the floor. You walk back to the corner as your teacher tells you to try again. Maybe you groan, or maybe your hold yourself up high and you do as you are supposed. Maybe you fail the jump again, or perhaps this time you listened to all the instructions and you make a perfect Arabesque or Grand Jete. Or maybe you just give up all together.
Don't. give. up.
There's worst things out there than falling. "Falling down is life. But getting back up, that's living."
~unknown. So you miss. You don't twirl right, you don't jump right in the dance of life. But you get back up. Because falling down is what happens on occasion, stumbling is inevitable. Make it apart of the dance. God's got your back. Just like my dance teacher, He will give you as many times as you need. "One more time, Child," He whispers. "Listen to my instructions, and you won't fall, you won't fail, you will make that leap."
It's faith.
It's the high and lows in life.
Maybe you crash and burn. So what? Get back up, because that is living. Maybe you stumble forward instead of standing straight up. So what? Don't let it bring you down, 'kay?
~S.E.
This is really, really good.
ReplyDeleteSo, recently I just 'took a break'/quit ballet, and I've been contemplating and praying about whether or not to give it a chance again....and this was really helpful. <3 like 'wow, this is a splash of cold water and realization, thanks.' :p in a great way. *hugs*
Thanks. :)
ReplyDelete*smiles* Glad I could help in a small way. <3