I borrowed the title from Jason Mraz’s latest album, which you may or may not have noticed. So I’d like to tip my hat to Mr. Mraz for the inspiration. I have no idea if what he was talking about is anything close to what I think when I read those three sentences, but I digress.
This morning I was preparing breakfast for my son, and as I served it to him I decided I wanted to watch the Jason Mraz video I bought at FYE. As I picked it up from the table, I read the title “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.” For some reason the thoughts began to pour in.
We Sing. We sing for joy. We sing for release (or at least I know I do). We sing for healing. We sing because at our core we gain great joy in that space where there is nothing but those precious words, the music, and us.
In your place of worship (if you have one) you give praise, and it’s in that place of ultimate surrender that you feel such incredible, overwhelming emotions, and God fits in those spaces of hurt and lets you know He is there. He is present.
In everyday life, songs speak volumes to us. They don’t even have to be overly sentimental lyrics, but just getting in the car (or wherever you might be at the time) and shedding the skin of the day, the stress of the day, you belt out your favorite songs and feel a sense of release. It’s an incredible feeling. I love singing, I always have. I love creating while singing. I love sitting in a circle with people, guitars and other instruments playing, and just creating something out of thin air. Maybe it’s something that’s been festering in my heart that intuitively makes its debut, or something just fun. There are few things better in the entire world.
We Dance. We dance, and certainly not with the most incredible grace. Sometimes we dance without a care in the world. As they say, “Dance like no one is watching.” That takes a lot of courage, at least for me considering I am tremendously self-conscious. We throw our hands up in the air, and with a smile on our face we move to music, we move out of sense of achievement (the happy dance). We let go. We dance.
We Steal Things. We steal things every day, and not always intentionally. We steal things without realization of the crime. When we are in conversation with someone and think our thoughts and words are more important than theirs to the extreme that we don’t allow them to get a word in edgewise. When we don’t return a phone call because we’re “too busy”. When we don’t pick up the phone to touch base with someone we swear is important to us. When we forget special times in the lives of those we care about. When our words cut like knives. When we don’t say, “I love you”. When we take people for granted. We steal little pieces of them. We do.
What’s worse is that it’s hard to give those pieces back, because in the time we have those pieces they can chip, develop new shapes, and maybe even grow and they no longer fit in the spaces they originated from. We steal things, tangible or intangible. We steal things. Precious things.
It’s the times when we allow ourselves to be present, to be warm, to be loving, to be intentional that we touch the hearts of others. When we reach outside of ourselves. When we think beyond ourselves. When we surrender our selfishness. When we not only make ourselves available to those we encounter, but invite them into our sacred spaces, too. When we take their hand and invite them to dance with us, to sing with us, to heal with us. This is where healing begins, and joy thrives.
Dance, sing and be present. Love more, and steal less. Dance more, without fear of the eyes watching you. Sing, but sing from your heart, and let the magic of the experience touch your soul. Lift up your voice, move your feet and let go of it all, and while you’re at, it invite someone to join you and share in the experience.
