It's Not Wrong.... Right?

Last night was one of our monthly English Country Dance practices. And at the dances we have a mixture of people that have been doing ECD for many years, to those who have never danced before.

Towards the end of the evening, one of my favorite dances was announced, Postie’s Jig. It is also one of the few dances where instead of dancing in long lines of guys and girls facing each other, each group is compiled of only 4 couples (4 guys and 4 girls).

I *happened* to end up in a group that was almost entirely composed of advanced dancers (myself included). 5 of us were part of the first group that had started the ECD practices, 2 others had been coming for over a year, and the other boy was the type of beginner that teachers dream of.

As the other groups formed, I noticed that most of the other groups were composed entirely of all beginners (there were a lot of new people that evening). I mentioned to one of the girls that maybe one or two couples in our group should go trade places with one or two of the other inexperienced couples in another group, since that was one of our “jobs” as experienced dancers; to teach the new people. Postie’s Jig is a confusing dance, and it’s very helpful to have the advanced people spread out to help instruct.

“You know, Sara, we really deserve to have just one dance with experienced people. For one dance, the new people will be fine if we’re not there to personally teach them. We deserve this.”

And so, with her determined speech, along with all the other girls coaxing, I stayed. And it bothered me the rest of the evening, though I couldn’t figure out why.

It wasn’t that we were doing anything wrong; there wasn’t a rule written in stone that said that we couldn’t all dance together. The problem was that we weren’t doing what was right.

Having a group of almost all experienced people dancing together is great; you don’t have to worry about constantly reminding the beginners where to go and you can simply dance. Which is why the advanced dance practices (for advanced dancers) are so great.

But, during these normal practices, as advanced dancers, we are supposed to be putting our wants/likes aside and serving the beginners by lovingly teaching them the different dance steps, even if we have to show them the step 7 times. (Philippians 2:3)

But, we didn’t.

On Postie’s Jig, we decided that we were going to instead serve ourselves, while leaving the beginners to “fend for themselves.”

It made me wonder, how many other things am I doing that aren’t “wrong”, but aren't’ “right”, either? What things am I spending my time on, and, though harmless enough, what could I be better using my time on that would be more beneficial? What conversations do I participate in that aren’t “wrong”, but we could be using our time so much more wisely if we discussed a different topic?

But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

Matthew 12:36

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

1 Corinthians 6:12

A couple Sundays ago this topic was brought up, which I guess is why I’ve been thinking about it. There are so many things that seem like they are fine to be doing, but really just zap our time.

One of the things that have been “zapping” my time, is the computer. I can spend hours (literally) doing things that aren’t “wrong”, but on further investigation (which this month has allowed me), I’ve found that most of the things I was doing, were not all that important. I have been gleefully happy this month with finding that, 1) - I can survive without the computer (who would have thought?!), and 2) - with the time I’ve spent off of the computer, I have had more time to write, more time to spend time doing things around the house, more time to study God’s word, and more time to spend in actual conversations.

What are some things that you have been spending your time on, that maybe it would be more useful for you to do something else? Our time here is so short; we can never take any of our days for granted.

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

James 4:14