Very Important to Breathe
"Wax on, wax off...Don't forget to breathe very important to breathe...First, learn stand, then learn fly."
Remember Daniel, The Karate Kid from 1984? The lines above are quotes from Mr. Miyagi who taught young Daniel karate, but more importantly many life lessons. Daniel learned balance. He learned everything in life worth having, or achieving requires an effort be put forth from beginning to end, and that it is important to breathe.
"I don't get it. I just don't get it. And, I don't like it. Where'd I go wrong? Slow down with your breathing."
Now the next question for you, do you remember Mikey, the baby from the 1989 movie Look Who's Talking? The quotes above are from Mikie who thought of things he would say to advise his neurotic mother if he could talk. He doesn't understand where he went wrong. She will not listen! Perhaps it is because he isn't really talking. And notice again as with the Karate Kid, this kid (Mikie) also seems to understand the importance of breathing.
Ok, fast forward to 2011, breathe, turn on the TV, and look who's dancing. The Karate Kid (Ralph Macchio) now 49 and Kristie Allie (Mikie's mom) now 60 are both dancing on the popular television competition show Dancing WIth the Stars. They are not only learning to stand but to a lot of people's surprise are dancing quite well. Last night the Karate Kid scored 21 and Mikey's mom got 2O out of a possible 30 points. All the balance and breathing lessons seem to be paying off.
I listened as the judges critiqued Kristie's and Ralph's performances last night The Kid did great. Judges said he did need to work more on dancing because he had the performing down pat. To Kristie, judges pointed out that the beginning was good and the end, but the middle was lacking. They told her she seemed to lose steam and momentum in the middle. Kristie heard the criticism, breathed and then smiled like a star should smile and shine after the dance is over. In news articles today Kristie said she knew what the judges said was true and she vowed to improve next week.
Now I have another question for you. Do you believe the middle is just as important as the beginning and the end?
As we live our lives (hopefully for God) we must learn to stand for Him. The first thing we learn when we begin to live for God is to seek Him first.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
In the beginning, when we first find Jesus, there is an excitement as we wake up each day feeling the new breath that Christ has breathed into us. As we continue on we find there are things that come against us and we sometimes become discouraged and lose some of the excitement we first had. We must find our balance and continue to run in the middle of living our daily lives for Christ. We can't lose our energy and let the weights of life slow our dance. As a matter of fact, we need to be running.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which doth so easily besetu us, and let us run with patience the race taht is is set before us. Hebrews 12:11
Instead of being discouraged and saying, "I just don't get it," we need to learn to continue on. We need to learn to follow what God's Word tells us to do to be successful.
In the middle, we must pray.
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving Colossians 4:2
In the middle, we must continue to follow sound doctrine which God's Word teaches.
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
I Timorhy 4:16
We must continue in our faith through everything that comes against us in the middle, for there is a great reward awaiting us.
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22
If we continue on from the beginning, through the middle, unto the end, we will be saved!
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Matthew 24:13
So, today I remind you in life a lot of wax goes on that you must wipe off in order to shine. Before we can fly, we must stand and must endure a lot of things that we just don't understand. The middle is as important as the beginning and the end. Breathe! You can never go wrong as long as you continue on with Christ.
jbp