Click for Crazy Video
We have all heard the saying, “Dance like nobody is watching.” It may resonate a little more with women because they seem to have a natural desire to dance, but I think most men understand the essence of the expression.
Go for it man! Don’t hold anything back! Who cares what anybody thinks?! Let loose!
We can certainly appreciate the commitment behind the adage. And, I believe we respect the amount of courage it takes to “Dance like nobody is watching.”; the courage that drives a man to disregard his concern for what people think and do what he has determined in his heart to do. That is a rare quality in a man. A man like that can change the course of history – or at least change the lives of the people who know him.
This week I saw a video online of a young woman who videoed herself literally dancing like nobody was watching. Here is the story behind her video: she did not get to go home for Christmas and was feeling pretty bummed out. So, she came up with an idea to get her out of her feelings of self-pity. She went down to the airport to see people who clearly had the opportunity to travel and be with family over Christmas. She put on her I-Pod ear buds, cranked up a dancing tune and then started to dance with reckless abandon.
Wow, you have to see this to believe it. Click on the photo to watch this video.
Look at her go for it. She is really letting it all out. What is incredible is the lack of response from any of the people at the baggage carousel – they ignore her. Even when she is crawling on the floor and reaching out to a passerby he completely ignores her. Crazy.
I wonder what we would have done if we were there? Would we have caved into the public peer pressure and ignored her too. I hope we would have watched, cheered her on, and congratulated her for her courage and commitment. Keep in mind, no one else could hear the music – it was only on her I-Pod.
Remember what Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those could not hear the music.”
I want to live like that. I want to wholeheartedly live life for an audience of one – recklessly abandoned to His leading. I want to be free from the fear of man. Free from being overly concerned about what people think of me and do what I believe is right – do what I believe the Lord is leading me in. However, if I truly live like that, if we truly live like that, we need to be willing for some people to think we are insane. Sure, some may cheer us on and respect our courage and commitment, but the majority may very well think we have lost it because we are not like everyone else.
I am sure you are aware that there is always an unspoken pressure to be like everyone else – be ordinary. When we choose to be extraordinary there is always pressure from the crowd to rein it in, to stop thinking you are someone special and just be like everyone else. In fact, I learned a long time ago that the road to our greatest achievements is lined with spectators telling us why it can’t be done.
That largely unspoken pressure to conform, to be like everyone else, is the fear of man. What will people think if you do that? But, what will God think if you don’t? Our fear of God must be greater than our fear of man or we will never apprehend that for which he has apprehended us. Be a God pleaser, not a man pleaser.
So my brothers, dance like nobody’s watching. Worship like nobody’s watching. Obey like nobody’s watching. Serve like nobody’s watching. Surrender like nobody’s watching. Give like nobody’s watching. Live with a reckless abandon – wholeheartedly walking with Jesus in this epic adventure called life.
Kick the fear of man in the head as you wholeheartedly walk, run and dance with Jesus – like nobody’ watching.
Yeah!
Acts 4:18-20
“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.””
Psalm 119:80
“May I wholeheartedly follow your decrees, that I may not be put to shame.”