Dance Recital Musings

Today I went to my daughter’s dance recital.  Normally, I don’t look forward to three hours of consecutive entertainment, and today was no different. (I want to see my kid dancing, just not her and everyone else’s kid, for so long ) But even in the midst of my bad attitude, I started having some positive thoughts.
As I was sitting there looking into the faces of all these children, I started to think: each one of these human beings in front of me is one tiny wave on the sea of God.  Each one of these kids represents a different flavor of God(dess).

Some were tall for their age, some were short. Some were chubby, some  were thin.  Some were what society would call “beautiful”, some not so much.  Some of them had ears that stuck straight out off the sides of their head.  Some were smiling, some completely serious.  All of a sudden, I could see God in each one of them.  And they were all beautiful to me in that moment.

They usually put the younger kids on the stage first so they can be taken home by their parents afterward.  Some of them were probably no more than two years old.  Even though they’d presumably been practicing the same dance for half a year by now, most of them were fairly clueless about the dance “routine”, some more so than others.

And yet, as we watched them, we found their “mistakes” endearing.   We laughed and clapped.  I saw one youngster literally picking her nose at the end of the routine while her peers where doing curtsies on the stage.  She was just standing there, oblivious, picking away.

I thought to myself: Wouldn’t it be nice if we were all so generous with ourselves and our partners?  That when we made “mistakes”, we would think of them as “cute”?  Wouldn’t it be nice if we gave more of that unconditional love it seemed so easy to give these children, to others, starting with ourselves?

I guess what I am really saying is this: The next time you make a mistake or don’t meet up to your own high standards, try picturing yourself as a two year old in a blue tutu picking your nose.  Maybe it’ll help.

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