107 MILLION VIEWS...AND COUNTING

[Timl1980]

I was sitting in my house yesterday afternoon, playing a few games of chess online and just listening to some music in the background when all of a sudden a song started playing that I hadn't heard in years. 

 

Being alone, my feet started moving to the beat...toes tapping as Chris Brown's voice filled my surround sound speakers and started echoing around the room.

 

"It's you...and me...moving at the speed of light into eternity!"

 

"Cause we only got one night...double your pleasure, double your fun...and dance forever...ever, ever"

 

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=w_gK0chm8MA&si=x9yVbPk17z0TWG9C

 

Scenes from The office started floating through my mind...Michael Scott moving like a man who had lost a bet with gravity...Dwight accidentally kicking his date in the face as he tried to do a "cool" kick move...and Angela marching down the aisle as if in protest, as though dancing were a mortal sin and against the nature of humanity itself. 

 

Instantly I paused the song, jumped on YouTube and watched the video...14 million views and counting. 

 

As I watched...I had the most unexpected reaction...I started laughing and crying at the same time. Not only were they all having fun, not a single one of them cared what they looked like to others while they did it. 

 

All of a sudden I was no longer in my living room, mentally I had been transported back to the day of my wedding...and just like that, I started crying all over again. 

 

You see...truth be told...I can't dance. I hate it...I don't even like to try because I have absolutely zero rhythm and anybody looking at me would probably think I'm having a seizure of some sort and try to rescue me 😂

 

My wife and I had our wedding dance...oh yes, you know what I mean...the obligatory few moments of awkwardness with just the two of us shuffling around on the dance floor while everybody else watched. I stepped on her feet, I stepped on her dress...I absolutely know that I made a fool out of myself...but thankfully she just kept talking to me as we shuffled around...and that somehow made it okay...it made it bearable.

 

As soon as the music stop playing...I left that dance floor like my feet were on fire. She was joined by other sisters and the dancing went on...but I fled...using the excuse that I wanted to mingle with others and talk and thank everybody for being there. 

 

Coming back to myself in my living room, I suddenly realized that there was another video that I had never seen...the video that The Office crew had directly copied the idea from. Out of curiosity I clicked on it...amazed that this video had over 107 million views...and still counting.

 

Almost immediately I started laughing out loud...and crying all over again!! 

 

The way these people were moving...it reminded me of several videos I'd seen online with "church people" who had the "holy ghost"...I was hiccupping with laughter...and yet bawling my eyes out in envy at the same time.

 

How on Earth were they not afraid to look so stupid?? Surely they must have known they couldn't dance...I couldn't help but wonder if there had been a doctor present...would they have assumed these people were having catatonic fits? 🤣

 

(Disclaimer: This next part is purely from personal experience after sitting 15 years in prison, so please don't roast me in the comments!) 

 

If there had been a single African American person there...I could imagine every single one of them would have received a host of incredulous looks along with a stern talking to afterwards about how NOT to appear like you were a fish flopping around out of water out there. 🤣😂

 

But back to me and MY failures...back to me and MY ridiculousness on my wedding day: 

 

You see...after I left...Cate LIVED out there on that dance floor.

 

She danced with everyone...completely and utterly at home out there. She was free...unencumbered...just like The Office...just like the people in that JK wedding video. 

 

But me...I was afraid...afraid to look stupid, foolish...afraid to let go.

 

And it wasn’t just that night. There were other weddings, other gatherings, other songs where she wanted to dance and I didn’t. Moments where she was ready to be silly and I was too busy protecting my pride. Moments where she was laughing and I was calculating how foolish I might look. Moments I didn’t take. Moments I can’t get back now that she’s gone back to England and our communication is barely a thread.

 

Sitting there in my living room...I started thinking about all the "views" these two videos received...all the people who sat there and laughed and cried and commented on those two videos...watching these two groups of people be open...free...foolish...and yet HAPPY at the same time...and suddenly it hit me.

 

How many "views" have I gotten?

 

Not from below...but from above?

 

After all, along with Jehovah and Jesus...there are HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of faithful angels up there...and ALL of them are directly interested in us...in ME...in YOU.

 

Picking up my phone, I downsized the YouTube video and clicked on my JW library app, pulling up my Bible after doing a quick search for verses regarding the subject of dancing. 

 

I don't know why I clicked on this verse, but after doing a little bit of research and going down a rabbit hole for about 20 minutes...sniffling the whole time...I finally came to a very stunning realization...and THAT is what prompted me to make this post.

 

The verse?

 

Psalms 149:3 "Let them praise his name with dancing..."

 

The Hebrew word behind that word dancing absolutely blew my mind:

 

"machol": The core idea behind machol (and its verbal root chuwl, which means to twist, spin, or whirl) is a complete lack of self-consciousness or uninhibited, wholehearted joy. (That reference was from the Internet) Or: to tremble, to writhe, to be moved so deeply that your body reacts WITHOUT PERMISSION.

 

How crazy is that? 

 

This whole time I've been avoiding dancing because I have no rhythm 😂...and here Jehovah WANTS me to become so joyful that I LOOK like I need a medical intervention??

 

To Jehovah...I guess dancing isn't ABOUT skill...it's about surrender. (Although I still don't PERSONALLY think I would want to rachet it up to the degree of the south surrendering to the north...maybe just me surrendering to the tug of a late night snack of me, a spoon and a tub of ice cream 😂🤣)

 

You know...maybe my real regret isn't that I can't dance...it's that I WOULDN'T. 

 

It's in all those little missed moments of awkwardness that never happened because I never gave myself over to the joy of the moment...and now it has me wondering...how many joyful "views" and "comments" have I missed out on from Jehovah's realm...and how can I change that now?