Excellence Through the Arts

During our Thanksgiving week, a past student of ours visited from college.  Rachel was not only a student here, but also taught the Creative Movement classes last year.  So during her few days off last week, she called to get together with some of us at the studio. We met there, and it became such a glorious time!  Rachel carried the little kids on her back running around the field (Sarah was SO excited to see her!) Then, as the weather got chilly, we all went inside for what turned out to be an impromptu dance presentation!  We showed Rachel some of our recent choreography, then Rachel showed us some of the dance that she is performing at Belhaven, and then the little ones got up and performed some very creative improvisations for us all.  It was just a wonderful time of sharing, and it reminded me once again, how grateful I am for this studio and for all of the wonderful people I share my life with here!  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

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Hope everyone is squeezing a little more fun and relaxation out of these last days of summer vacation!  As we are all gearing up for our new schoolyear, I wanted to let you know that I am praying for your family along with my own.  May we offer up our best efforts, trusting that God will continue to multiply our meager abilities and bless our families and our homeschools as we learn throughout this year. 

At the studio, we are excited to be adding a visual art class to our schedule this Fall.  Cindy Marcantel will be teaching a group of 8-10yr olds, and we hope to expand the program to include more age groups in the Spring.  Not your usual cutesy craft class, where the real art is already done by the teacher, and the kids glue together something to take home and collect dust.....no, Cindy teaches students about the masters (Van Gogh, Degas, Monet), introducing them to various media (charcoal, watercolor, acrylic paint, etc) and guiding them as they explore different techniques.  This is a great hands-on exploration, taught by a real artist who is also a homeschooling veteran whom we have all come to love and respect.

Hope to see you all in the studio real soon!

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Praise God for this fabulous opportunity to use our gifts to serve others!  The cast of On the Path will present three performances this weekend at the Rice Theater in Crowley.  Proceeds will be donated to Lafayette's A Pregnancy Center and Clinic.  While the audience will certainly enjoy the show, the real beauty of the project is the Grace that has permeated it for the last 9 weeks.  We have been blessed by families who have joined together, rehearsing, learning, and sharing.  We have seen people (who never thought they would set foot on a stage) find themselves inspired to courageous participation.  We have seen everyone pulling together, offering whatever talents and abilities they had, humbly offering themselves and their time to do something valuable for others.  We have prayed.  We have all been visited by thoughts about the unborn babies whom our efforts are supporting.  We have run into roadblocks and seen how God was only steering us in His direction.  And most of all, we have seen our meager efforts, humbly offered, being blessed and multiplied in front of us.  God is good.  And what an amazing feeling it is when He uses us as the tools of His mercy.  God willing, our performance will be successful and the donations to the Pregnancy Center will be substantial.  But as always, the most wonderful part of it all is the way the project impacts the cast, and it's that wonderful part that the audience never gets to see. 

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So maybe this is a bit long for a blog post, but some may find it helpful:

About a year ago, my 5 and 3 year old daughters began comparing themselves to each other.  Funny, I never heard "Gee Mom, I got more ice cream than she did, let me share some with her", or "wow, why did I learn that faster than she did?"  Rather, the comparison was always verbalized when the speaker seemed to have the 'short end of the stick'.  These words showed me that in their little hearts, they were more focused on comparing what they had to what the other had, rather than being grateful for all that they had received. 

Time for learning! So much of what I had been taught in the world reinforced the 'get more to be happy' and 'keeping up with the Jones' mentality.  And this had not done much to make me happy or help me 'keep up'.  I knew I wanted my girls to be content (much more important than happy!) and I wanted them to cultivate servants' hearts.  So we went to the trusty Bible Concordance.  We found scripture about gratitude, and about covetousness.  We found stories about talents and about trusting that God gives us each what we need, no more, no less, and never dependent on what He gives someone else!

These are the basic truths we've been able to apply to our everyday issues:

When we compare what we have received to what others have received:

--We are measuring apples and oranges.  God knows and loves us as individuals, and he will not burden us with gifts He knows we cannot handle.  The blessings, talents, abilities and opportunities we are given are uniquely chosen according to the very special plan He has for each of us.  (so when my girls begin comparing themselves to one another, I help them to verbally list all their strengths, pointing out that they are each unique creations of our Father.  We also make a verbal list of our weaknesses, pointing out the ways that our weaknesses open the door to God's Grace.)

--We are being covetous.  We are focusing our hearts on what someone else has.  This allows evil to enter and chew away at our hearts. Covetousness is a manifestation of Greed, and therefore is combated by Generosity.   (so when my girls exhibit Greed, I give them opportunities for Generosity, and point out how full it makes their hearts feel.)

--We are missing a "thank you" opportunity.  Grateful hearts are built all day everyday, by always looking for those opportunities to thank someone for something.  Little things, big things, and of course, thanking God in our prayers for everything.  When we ask and receive, we build the habit of saying thank you.  When someone steps in to do or give before we ask, we have a game of being quick to notice those things and say thank you.  The girls have responded well to this 'pay attention' game, and even 2 year old baby Brother is saying thank you when people give to him or do for him.

When someone else does or says something to try to lessen our contentment (puts us down for what we have, or for what we are not 'good at'):

This is our call to service.  A prideful, greedy heart receives those words from others as an attack, and turns to look inward, letting the words define how we see ourselves.  But when we learn to have the heart of a servant, we become able to look with compassion at the other person, seeing that those ugly words or actions are only a call for help.  A call to be affirmed, to be loved.  (So we teach our children to look past the ugly words, in their siblings and others, and ask themselves "how can I help this person?  How can I be generous and kind, so that Christ can win this person over THROUGH me?" - and when a little kid is being picked on or put down, wielding the Love of Christ is the most powerful 'offense', when 'defense' is so often futile.) 

When we think of what we have (things, abilities, opportunities) as our own possessions, we miss the point of God's gifts:

Everything God gives us -  abilities, talents, opportunities, wealth, relationships, blessings - He gives us to use as tools for two purposes: one, we are to use everything we have to prepare for the eternal life of our own souls.  We are to let all our things, our experiences, our time on this Earth, perfect and purify us toward union with God.  Secondly (and simultaneously), we are to use everything we are given to do God's work in the world.  We are called to be the body of Christ, serving our neighbors, leading others to Christ through our actions and our example.  With this perspective, we guard ourselves from pride, from covetousness, and most importantly, we are living a life that is open to the abundant and miraculous Grace of God.

In every area, we are given a little more or a little less than someone next to us.  But we are each given exactly what God wants us to use for His glory.  Our job, as His children, is to offer it back with joy and gratitude.  And without exception, when we do that, we find we receive much more than we ever dreamed possible!

I heard this recently, but don't know who said it originally:

"Contentment is freedom from comparison."

The kids learn all this so quickly, and I see the joy and fullness in their hearts reflected through their eyes.  They aren't just learning to do the right thing.  They are learning to really be like Christ.  We do our best to train them this way, so that over the years, as the competitive, materialistic mentality of the world begins to creep into their reach, our children are able to recognize it as evil, and to guard their hearts against it, since they have already discovered and had the joy of having a heart full of joy and gratitude, looking at those around them with compassion and forgiveness.  The other amazing thing is how all this is training my kids parents!  Through 'teaching' the kids, we are seeing the joy in their faces when they discover contentment or act with compassion and generosity.  And all these preschool learning games about gratitude are exactly what my husband and I have needed to repair our own selfish, greedy hearts!  Praise God for the way He teaches us through our children!

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Each Class Session brings new and wonderful blessings.  I thought I'd use this blog space to share a bit about some of our classes.
     All the 'little' girls are thrilled to be back in Rachel and Shayna's Creative Movement classes.  I love seeing the joy in their movement and the admiration in their eyes as they follow Miss Rachel and Mrs. Shayna around the room.  I love seeing them explore and learn together.  I also like seeing all the little brothers in the lobby. I have visions of them in the future, either participating in classes or maybe participating in the 'brothers football game' that organizes itself in the field outside!  I just love seeing all these kids, receiving the blessings of homeschooling, being allowed to be kids as long as possible, and interacting with each other in such a glorious way.
     Several students have 'graduated' out of the Creative Movement class into my Movement and Rhythm class.  They (along with the two boys who have joined the class) are giving me a real workout!  We are learning about dance improvisation, creating rhythms with our bodies and with percussion instruments, and discovering all the interesting ways we can move, while we begin to build strength and technique.  Our first class was great and I can't wait for next week!

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It's time again!  Our next production is in that early stage of creative excitement!  Several months of ideas are beginning to take form, music is falling into place, choreography is getting written down.  So far, I know that this one is about our journey toward Humility. Several characters that lead us along that road include Wisdom, Surrender, Forgiveness and Loss.  (There are probably others, but these are the ones that have materialized so far.)  Yes, these are presented as characters as if each one was actually a person.  There is a choir, solo vocalist parts, acting parts, and of course, lots of dances.  Also, we will be doing more to enrich the connection between the performers and the charity recipient. 
Look for future blogs about the production.  We will hold auditions on December 4 for solo dance roles, and on January 8 for all other dance, acting and singing roles.

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Today in the Movement and Rhythm Class, I was  once again blown away by the creativity of the students.  They are 7 and 8 yr olds and  I simply told them to dance "water, then ice, then clouds".  I won't even attempt to describe the movements they spontaneously created (my words could not do it justice).  But what was so beautiful is that these kids have an awareness and understanding of the essence of Creation.  They don't pantomime, or mimic, but they truly danced the falling, flowing, freezing, melting, and billowy floating.  It was exquisite, it was pure, and I wish you all could have been there in the studio today. Kudos to their families for educating them without squashing their ability to look with wonder at all of Creation and then have the spirit to share it with us on the dance floor!

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Training and experience in the performing arts offers us so much more than the ability to sing, dance, act or play an instrument.  Why does your family participate in the performing arts, and how does it enrich your lives?  Let us hear from you!

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Many people have asked "Meghan, why don't you get on Facebook?"  And I must admit that it is tempting, especially with our present local economy, to jump at any free advertising we could get.  But our family does not participate in Facebook because we do believe in the importance of building and supporting authentic community.  We want to have real face-to-face relationships, person to person, warts and all!  And it is important that our business operate by the same values we embrace in our home. 

So while you won't find us on any online social networking sites, I do thank you for visiting us here.  We invite you to visit us at the studio in Carencro, and we thank you in advance for spreading the news about Sheridan Productions in your own face-to-face authentic conversations!

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