Shake Your Tambourine
Wednesday, April 2, 2014 at 9:23 AM by Kayce Stevens Hughlett
Beduoin girls in the Sinai Desert ©KSHMy writing seems to be muddling along at a snail’s pace. My challenge is to find ways to be okay with that. Perhaps you have an area in your life that feels a bit ‘muddled’ too? For several days now, I’ve been plagued with the pesky thought, “I should write a blog post,” and if you know my philosophy at all, you understand how much I dislike “shoulds.”
Nevertheless, I’ve mentally and physically started half a dozen posts to no avail. Each time I’ve looked over my journal, however, one entry has raised its hand and waved, “Work with me. Choose me. Pick me.” So this morning I decided to acknowledge her beckoning. It’s a piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago prompted by my Lenten journey with Christine and John Valters Paintner. It is from a practice called “Midrash” where one interacts with scripture as if we were there. We get to toss out any expectations of what it “should” mean and simply play with words and see what arises. Here’s what Miriam (the sister of Moses) and I created together. I call it an Old Testament version of letting your freak flag fly!!
She took a tambourine in her hand and she danced. A woman unafraid to rejoice, make noise, and rattle her tambourine with its brilliant streaming ribbons and bells. She lifted her face to God—to the sun, moon and stars—and she rejoiced.
She crossed a great threshold and was not swallowed up by the sea… of course, she danced and rejoiced, because she had defied her own earthly death. How will I overcome my own death? By letting my words live on. By rejoicing and writing and being brave. By scattering my fearlessness and wisdom across the world like tinkling bells dripping from the ribbons of a tambourine.
Cairo Bazaar ©KSH Together, we shall dance. Like Miriam, let us hold our faces to the sun even when it’s hidden behind the clouds. May we step into the sea and trust that it will part and not swallow us whole… and if it does, then at least we will know that we are whole, living whole-heartedly and following our dreams. Our dreams flying in the wind like streamers on Miriam’s tambourine.
I stand at this threshold between muddle and dance, and I wait. I move with the smallest of steps, reaching for what I do not know and wrestling with being okay with that. Miriam invites me to find space to withdraw into the desert and to shake up my routine... to listen for new rituals and get comfortable with being fearless. She calls me to, "Rejoice and shake it up, baby!"
Where are you being called to rejoice and shake things up? Could you move from muddle to dance in the tiniest of steps? How will you let your ribbons fly in the wind? I invite you to ponder these questions alongside me.
Today, may you be blessed with streamers flying and your face turned toward the sun! Namaste.
~~~
Ten years ago, I penned the first lines that would ultimately become part of my blog-turned-book, As I Lay Pondering: daily invitations to live a transformed life. Today, it's my pleasure and delight to share with you an upscaled excerpt of these daily readings, complete with exquisite photography from the talented Bill Hughlett + added behind-the-scenes "fun facts." To receive your own FREE copy, click on "Receive Our Monthly Newsletter" in the right-hand column. Enjoy!!
Reader Comments (1)
Yeah!nice post.I read it carefully.I think it is so nice post.Thanks a lot for share this.