Dance Pants

I have taught dance to some degree most of my life.  I had this particular pair of black cotton dance pants that I had had for years. I loved them.  However, rather large holes were developing along the seams.  Not only that, but as I danced or walked around, jewelry, buttons, drawer knobs and such would get caught in these snags and make the holes bigger.  People in the dance world will understand how certain dance attire, once it has been worn in and worn out, can acquire a sort of chic look.   

Now, I can be stubborn sometimes and the matter of these dance pants was no exception.  One night after teaching a class I loaded up my, then 6 year old, son into our mini van and headed home.  At some point during the drive my wedding ring attached itself to a string on these pants.  Trying to pull it loose resulted in ripping half of the inseam open.  That’s when I had had enough.  

Didn’t these pants realize I had been trying to salvage them?  

After all we’d been through!  

It’s like the pants were betraying me!  

It was personal. 

I ripped and pulled, and before I knew it, I had not only ripped the other inseam but I had torn the pants into several pieces, removed them completely form my body, rolled down my van window and thrown them out into the darkness in complete and utter disgust!!!!!  It was then that I looked over at my poor 6-year-old son who had witnessed this entire ridiculous act and was now watching his mother drive down the highway in her underwear. What is even more strange than that is what happened when I got home.  

After realizing I had to scamper quickly into the house without being seen, thank goodness it was at night, I did so.  I walked straight into the bedroom and, while re-clothing myself, I announced calmly to my husband that I had been frustrated by my pants and thrown them out the window on the way home.  He barely blinked or reacted at all!  Apparently he is accustomed to my somewhat irrational behavior.  I love that man.  

God must love us, too. 

No matter how bizarre our behavior or how irrational we react to the simplest of annoyances, he is un-surprised.  He is not shocked.  He is patient and let’s us learn and reflect on our experiences. Even so, we are called to “explain ourselves” to our heavenly Father. Give an account of our actions.  Nothing surprises Him but he delights in our conversation, confession and repentance.  

On this particular night, my husband and the Lord might not have been surprised, but my six year old sure was! …and I had some explaining to do. 

 

Have you explained yourself to God today?  Are you hiding or sneaking about?

 

Hebrews 4:13 (NIV) Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

*photo is a harvey edwards print that i got for my sixteenth birthday, my mom gave it to me early, that's where i developed my impatience for hanging on to good news or surprises

flying cat

Flying Cat

when i was a teenager, i had a garfield phone.  the cartoon garfield. it was orange and striped.  garfield was in a sleeping cat position and you picked up his back to talk on the phone. 

at that time, in my house, 10 o’clock was the time you were supposed to get off of the phone on a school night.  a rule i broke regularly.  my dad was not so much an enforcer of the rule as he was a reminder of the rule.  there i would be each night, lying on my bed happily chatting away into garfield ’s back when it would happen.  “it” being my dad opening up the door with his threat.  “if you don’t get off of that phone right now i’m going to jerk that phone plum out of the wall and throw it plum out in the yard.”   (yes, my dad liked to use fruits in his threats)  after this threat and the closing of my door i would roll my teenage eyes and begrudgingly tell my friend i had to go.  night after night this ritual ensued.  for some reason this began to annoy me.    i started to think he was never really going to do anything other than just yell at me every night.   

so, there i was, holding garfield ’s back to my ear and my door opened.  i knew what was comingand i knew i was tired of hearing it.  i stood up on my bed and jerked the phone out of the wall, marched past my dad and threw open the front door and let garfield fly.  whump….he landed in the snow by the tree in my front yard.  “there! the phone is plum out in the yard!”  i announced to the house.  it was only after i slammed my door and jerked the covers over my head in a huff, did my thoughts change from “i showed him!” to “i just threw my phone out into the yard.....”.  garfield sat in the yard until the snow melted away days later.  my dad didn’t care if i didn’t have a phone and i was too stubborn to retrieve it myself.  

how often do we do that to God? He pleads and reminds us of His boundaries He has set for us for our own good and then we “show Him” by doing something that only hurts us in the long run.  I know there have been many times in my life I have unwittingly tested God’s love for me by rebelling and taking matters into my own hands.  how patient my dad was with me about the phone and how loving is my heavenly Father when i make mistakes.  i am so grateful that he loves me unconditionally.  

i don’t know if I apologized to my dad or not, but i sure felt sorry even if i didn’t.

 

Have you considered that there may be things you are taking into your own hands?  Have you asked forgiveness?

 

Isaiah 1:2 (NIV)  Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up,  but they have rebelled against me.

Luke 5:20 (NIV) When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

*incidentally i was the one who finally saved garfield from his upside-down post in the yard after three days, after i made sure no one was watching, never admitted it was permanently damaged and secretly bought another one