Yesterday used to be one of two strength training days at the gym. They recently changed Tuesdays to Zumba from Monday. While the instructor for Monday’s Zumba was great, it wasn’t to my liking, I needed a little more rhythm, even though I can’t even dance and can barely follow the routine. This particular Tuesday morning, on my way to the gym, i had mentally resigned myself to a morning on the treadmill as I thought it was just a switch in days and not instructors. As soon as I opened the doors to the gym, I heard the blaring Latin music. It was very different in tempo and volume than Monday’s usual class, I thought to myself, interesting… As soon as I was able to visibly see the instructor, I realized it was a different teacher and he had the class really moving. I was super excited as I rushed to put my stuff in my locker.
As I mentioned before, I can’t keep a beat to save my life, but I was in class and working up a real sweat. This was the first time I was having this instructor and was not familiar with any of his routines. I was very excited, and literally grinning from ear to ear as I was looking in the mirror and watching myself dance. I took my eyes off the instructor while I was ‘watching myself’ and when I looked back ten second later, the routine was very different and I was doing something completely different. In that moment, I realized what Peter felt like when Jesus had told him he could walk on water. While my little dance routine wasn’t as extreme, I could see how taking our eyes off Jesus for an instant, could change our perspectives and lives. Peter had seen Jesus walking out on the water, and was both excited and nervous, but he asked Jesus if he could walk to Him. While Peter started out confidently, he forgot for just a moment that He needed to stay focused on Jesus, and started sinking. Does life have you falling off your routine? You need to stay focused on Jesus. I’m also learning another valuable lesson through this process. While I could not foresee having a Zumba class that was more to my liking at this gym, I see that as something else I’m learning in life. Many times things are taken away from us, and we don’t understand why and why the changes are necessary, but I’m quickly learning that God doesn’t take something away without giving you a better replacement.
Lord, help me to stay focused on you in all that I do, so that I may keep following your steps and routine for my life. Lord, help me to understand that sometimes when you remove things from my life, it’s only to make room for the bigger blessings that you have in store for me. Help me to let go of those things and to patiently wait for the other blessings that you can’t wait to give me.