REPLACE FEATURE

If you are familiar at all with the Word program on a PC, you will notice in the top right hand corner under "home", an icon called "replace".  This little handy dandy feature allows you to locate an existing word in your document and exchange it for a more suitable word or phrase.  Pretty cool right?

What would the result be if we used this feature in our own personal Christian life?

There are times when I veer off towards negative thinking, especially when life isn't going as I had expected.  I have a vivid imagination that can drive my mind furiously like Jehu (see 2 Kings 9:20 if you don't get the reference) - an accident waiting to happen. 

I find at these times there are words/phrases that creep into my thoughts, permeating every aspect of my living and conversation. It's as if I have pressed the default button of my mind to automatically go there. My negative thinking distorts my perception - distorts the truth.  I begin to act out of my fears and assumptions. I have no real evidence in front of me to make me believe what I am imaging, but I go there anyway.

Phrases like:

• "This is going to end badly"....
• "What if".......
• "I can't handle this"..... 
• "I don't want to think about it"....
• "Everything is going wrong"....
• "I'm going to fail completely".....
• "I can't see the end of this"....
• "When will it end?"....
• "Where is God in this?"....
• "But I prayed".....
• "How could this happen?"....
• "I'm not young anymore"....
• "I can't think".....

I had to get into the habit of putting the brakes on and saying "wait a minute here, slow down Jehu" and come to a screeching halt.   

In my thinking, I had to accentuate the positive.  Even if it was only one or two positives. It's not easy when you are in the middle of your emotions, but it can be done.  Trust me on this.

I had to stop thinking in extremes, stop locking myself into no way out, stop assuming what might happen when it hasn't even happened yet, which negative thinking can do. 

I had to learn to replace those phrases with courageous ones. Many times, I have just replaced it with "Stop it...that's not true", suspending the function of the imagination to go where no man has gone before.  

I can replace my negative phrases with:

• "No....that's not true"
• "But God says"
• "I can do this"
• "What's done is done, let's just move on"
• "I'm going into fighting prayer"
• "Everything will be okay"
• "I will see the light at the end of this"
• "God has this"
• "I will not fear"
• "Something good is going to come out of this"
• "I may be getting older, but I have a lot of experience to add"

Questions to ask Ourselves

Do we veer off into the negative when life is difficult, or even when things are going well?  Do we have a tendency to be a negative person in general?  What steps can we take to replace some words and phrases in our vocabulary that tend towards the negative?

What Can We Do?

A habit can be broken.  It's not impossible, but we have to do it on purpose.  It doesn't change overnight.  We must refuse to live with those negative thoughts and expectations.  It is a choice.  God longs for us to live in hope and with faith expectations.

So.....let's click on that "replace" feature and start the process.

OUR DANCE

When Haylee, my youngest, was about four years old, my husband and I noticed something very special about her...she loved to twirl and dance about.  Music wasn't always necessary. She was in her own little world.

Her favorite show on Saturday night was The Lawrence Welk Show.  Why? Because Bobby and Sissy would be dancing and Arthur would be showing off his tap steps.  Each Saturday evening after dinner Haylee would ask "when is Lawrence Welk coming on?"  During the show we would hear this "when is Bobby and Thissy (saying sissy with a lisp) coming on?"  You get the picture.

During Bobby and Sissy's dance, Haylee would stand up and begin to imitate their moves.  She did the same when Arthur would tap dance. We were amazed at how well she imitated their foot movements and steps.  Our conclusion?  This girl needs to be in dance classes.  So we enrolled her into a dance studio where she danced for 13 years. In college, she continued to dance for four more years making it her major. Haylee now lives in Houston dancing for a professional dance company and teaching dance.

Psophonia Dance Company - Haylee at the front

I enjoyed the process of watching Haylee turn into a confident, expressive dancer. The steps she took to arrive where she is today was not without sacrifice. When I watch her dance now, all the practices, drama, crying that she wanted to quit in Junior High, times not spent with friends or school activities, was worth it all.

In the beginning, Haylee had to learn the basic foundational steps and their names for ballet, tap and jazz. This foundation is continuing to be built upon today even in the professional field. All she has learned and continues to learn becomes this beautifully expressed choreographic dance.

It is much the same with our dance with Christ.

The Bible says "we live and move and have our being" in Christ. (Acts 17:28a)

Haylee learning those rudimentary steps is like us learning what we believe and why. Understanding these two directives will help us gain confidence and a steady footing in not only the answers we give to unbelievers but also in our living.

With this understanding under our belt, we then begin to move out onto the dance floor of life. The moving is what I call applying what we have learned. We can study the steps all we want, but if we never get out on the dance floor, then it's just facts.  Our aim is growth, progression, maturity, moving in the Spirit, since we are now spirit beings.  Our moving in Him requires faith, knowledge, self-control, steadiness, virtue, love, Godliness, having a brotherly affection. We desire to emulate Him and to learn, act and behave as he did. What a beautiful dance we are choreographing.

I recently asked Haylee what she felt after learning the steps to a dance and then beginning the process of practicing the movements for a performance. This is what she sent to me:

The concept of embodying your movements is used so many times in dance.  The director or teacher will give you choreography to learn, but in the end, you have to make the movement yours. This is where the term "embody" comes in to play.  How does the movement feel to you? What different things can you do with your body that others cannot that will make this movement your own? I cannot count the times I have learned a dance trying to copy every move my director does, only to have her turn around and say 'now embody this, make this your own.' She is so right.  I am not her.  In order to truly feel comfortable in a dance I have to be me!

Another way dancers embody movement is through our muscle memory.  We practice so much to train our bodies so our muscles will automatically know what to do when we need them to do it. Growing up, I danced almost every day, up to three or four hours. It could be tough, but it certainly paid off.  Now when I walk into class, and the teacher says 'plies', I don't have to think, my mind and body automatically know what to do.  My muscles have embodied the movement and made them their own once again."

Doesn't this sound like "have our being" in Christ? 

This choreography we are dancing, all the steps and movements, now find their existence in Christ. We begin to embody and breath this dance of Christian life.

So....let's dance.