“Never let someone else determine God’s will for your life. No one else can understand God’s unique call on your life as clearly as you can.” —Ray Pritchard, Leadership Lessons of Jesus: A Timeless Model for Today’s Leaders
For many years, way too many years, I allowed others thoughts, beliefs and opinions to chart the course of my life. I never quite had the confidence to follow God’s unique call on my life…and therefore, I suffered tremendously through the years trying to find my way…but I did!!!
You may know that I was born to be a dancer. As a child, if you saw me, I was dancing. If not, I was most probably writing or drawing. As I grew older, I continued to do all three, but dance always remained my first passion. I had a change to go to college for dance and/or art, yet chose journalism because I thought that was the ‘right’ thing to do. Not what I dreamed of doing or had a passion for doing…what I thought would please others.
I managed to dance in college as I was introduced to modern ballet (now called contemporary dance) by a protegee of the great modern dancer Martha Graham. I joined Orchesis Dance Ensemble at West Virginia University and danced in many productions throughout college. It was not unusual to find me in one of these positions…
One night in November of 1975 that all changed when I broke my neck…the picture of me above was taken one month before my accident. That accident changed my life and the direction of my life…but did not quell the fire or the passion for dance.
Now I create art about dancers and write about dancers…you see I did have something to ‘fall back on.’
Three beautiful things in my life today:
- dancing in spirit
- dancing in my dreams
- walking…
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