Here are a few photos of Katharine dancing in the kitchen this past Sunday - spinning and twirling and dancing ~
Ok, I think that's her final pose - not a bow, but she's done for the moment. :) So yesterday Bella shared with us an email that she got from a missionary she taught last year.
Corey asked what was meant by the phrase "Learning to join the dance" that she mentioned. Ethan said "Most important lesson I've ever learned in my life and the center of what I taught missionaries." I knew it was from a song from "The Prince of Egypt" "Through Heaven's Eyes" sung by Brian Stokes Mitchell. Corey and I looked that up on google. AI Said "In 'The Prince of Egypt,' the phrase 'learn to join the dance' from the song 'Through Heaven's Eyes' means to embrace life's journey, even when the path ahead is uncertain, and to find your place in the world's larger purpose. It encourages letting go of control, accepting change, and finding meaning in the present moment." So good! Ethan sent a voice message to share with us his mission experience with the song and I loved it, so I wanted to document it here on the blog for posterity. So this was from Ethan yesterday:
Hey Wride nation, so let me explain "learning to enjoy the dance". I just did a whole 15 minute recording and then the audio wasn't good so I have to do it again, but that's ok! That's part of what learning to join the dance is! It's dealing with trials. So I’m going to learn to join the dance and make this recording again. When I was in Litchfield with Truman and this other guy, Elder Hess, I was extremely depressed, which is kinda funny cause I had not idea how much worse it was going to get. I told Mel the story recently of me getting poisoned with schizophrenic medicine when I was in the DR by a Dominican psychiatrist. Anyway, things got really bad there for a while, but when I was in Litchfield and I was struggling, I was sitting in the back of the car feeling sorry for myself and the song "Through Heaven’s Eyes" from Prince of Egypt came on (but the rendition that was approved for us with the Tabernacle choir). And it was one so powerful, it was the start of a very insightful experience and just feeling I had about learning to join the dance. So! What do I mean by that. When I was sitting in the back of car, here are the words: "No life can escape being blown about by the winds of change in chance, and though you never know all the steps you must learn to join the dance" Some of the most profound words I think ever written. because I heard that and realized - well the first thought I had was of Grandma Wride, who couldn’t walk. "No life can escape being blown about by the winds of change and chance" And I just thought of how Grandma learned to join the dance. It’s essentially this idea, It’s a way to articulate what we all deal with and basically it's just learning to deal with hardships.
So I yeah I first thought of Grandma Wride, then I thought of you Dad (Corey), who had a really depressing mission, and then I thought Chalane who has Lyme disease. I thought of Mark who had a lot of struggles with his young adulthood, and I just realized "wait a second... I’m not the only one who is depressed! Or who has been wrong by 'change and chance'!" So learning to join the dance - it ties in perfectly with the scripture of learning to take up your cross and follow the Savior. Like, we’re all gonna have a cross and you just have to take it and follow him.
Anyway, for example, Dad, you and John Dehlin had very similar experiences with regards to your mission being difficult, and you've said before that you could write an anti-mormon book if you wanted to. But the difference you learned to dance, and instead of cursing God and wishing to die, you were like "OK how do I figure this out", and you jumped in and tried to learn to join the dance. You have to listen to the music, that's what really makes it so powerful. It's the idea of embracing the hit, embracing the hardships of life and realizing that we all have problems. This is the answer to any problem in life. David Archuletta - his problem is he is not learning to join the dance. Instead of "learning to join the dance", dealing with your hardships, turning to the savior, picking up your cross, whatever you call it, I like to call it "learning to join the dance" ~ instead of doing that, David chose to curse God and he complains online every chance he gets about how he's been wronged by life and by the church and just whines about it. "NO LIFE can escape being blown about by the winds of change and chance" - We're all wronged by life in some way. Some of it's chance, we don’t really have control over it, but none of us are able to evade being wronged by life in one way or another and the trick is learning to join the dance. It goes back to that quote you shared dad, 'The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.' (quote by Jenkin Lloyd Jones at the end of this post). "Learning to Join the Dance"
If you haven’t listen to the song recently, I mean, even if you have, go listen to it, relisten to it and follow along with the lyrics, look up the lyrics online and follow along with what it is saying, cause it’s really profound. And I love the part "And although you never know all the steps, you must learn to join the dance" and then you hear the choir come in - it’s so powerful. I love it because I feel like I’m hearing this choir of people who have been wronged by life, but who learned to join the dance and are turning towards the Lord. It's really cool to hear the choir come in. When I first heard that in Litchfield, I literally visually imagined JeNeal, just people, grandpa, we all have reasons to curse God in some ways, but I thought I imagine the group of those people all just dancing and you know the dance is difficult. It’s hard to do. It’s not always fun, but the trick is learning to join the dance. And Wesley has learned to join the dance. The first few months of his mission, he was trying to figure out the dance and decide if he should go all in but now he's learned to join the dance. I think that's what the mission is primarily, is learning to join the dancing. That was a big turning point in my mission, especially since I internalize it. I think the dance is learning, taking up your cross and following the savior is the key to any trial anyone has, is learning to join the dance and accepting the Lord will and still join the dance. Do you know what I'm saying? The dance is hard, it's difficult, it’s unfair, but the idea is we all have problems, we all have issues, and you suck it up! We're all in this together. We all have been wrong my life one way or another. So hopefully that makes sense. It is definitely the most important thing I've taught missionaries and the most impactful. Letters like that one you read I receive all the time, and they're almost always about The House videos and Learning to join the dance.
~
The quote by Jenkin Lloyd Jones (shared by President Gordon B. Hinckley in BYU Devotional 25 Sept 1973 "God Shall Give Unto You Knowledge By His Holy Spirit") -
Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.
Life is just like an old time rail journey…delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment