Zumba Obedience

What is Zumba ? See the following from the official Zumba Fitness Website:

“THE WORD ZUMBA^® DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING
The word ZUMBA^® was coined by our company, and is an arbitrary or fanciful word we selected as the original brand name that identifies Zumba Fitness' dance fitness programs and related products.”

Who can resist something for which its branders chose a word that “doesn’t mean anything” and at the same time is “fanciful”? They go on to say that using the word “Zumba” as a noun or verb is incorrect. It should be referred to as “Zumba Fitness”. (That was free for all of you English language nerds, like me)

So, official definition aside let me tell you what “Zumba Fitness” is to me. It is the first type of physical exertion that doesn’t feel like “I can’t wait for this to be over” exercise. It is an hour of high energy, fun dance movements that allow me to bring out my highly imagined inner Latina. As a bonus, I get to wear cute, sparkly shoes as opposed to bulky, clunky tennis ones.

And yes, for me, it has become an exercise in obedience. (No pun intended, but if you appreciated it—all the better.)

Sounds like easy obedience for something so enjoyable, right??!! Wrong. Whereas it is a great deal of fun, I am HORRIBLE at it. Now, before you start thinking, “I’m sure you’re not that bad. You’re just being hard on yourself”. Let me assure you --I am that bad. As anecdotal proof, I’ve talked with two different instructors (after class) and told them how much I loved the class, but how dreadful I consider myself to be at it. I was, of course, secretly hoping, for a “That’s ok. Keep coming. You’ll get it” response. What I got instead: “So glad you enjoyed the class”. Big smile, followed by awkward silence!!

My historical fall back would be, “Ok so I’m not good at it, I’ll find something I’m better at and do that instead... Appreciate those instructors as ‘truth-tellers’ like the ones you wished some of the contestants on American Idol would have had in their lives before they made it to the national stage”. It has, however, not proven to be quite that simple in this case. I don’t just feel the freedom to move on. I am sensing from the Holy Spirit that He is using “Zumba Fitness” to get to something much deeper in my heart.

This quote from The Calvary Road,, by Roy Hession, is what the Lord used to get me thinking in that direction, “Anything that springs from self, however small it may be is sin”. The author goes on with a laundry list of the usual suspects: “self-indulgence, self-pity, self-seeking”: but then he comes to one that I wasn’t expecting: “self -consciousness”

That’s it—“Self-consciousness” It seems so innocuous, certainly not in the “sin” category—right??!!. And yet as God started to drill down into my life on this point, I was dismayed to discover the all-too-familiar hallmarks of a trap of the enemy of my soul. It is the reason I don’t speak Spanish better—afraid to put myself out there with Spanish speakers. It is why I over-prepare for meetings at work, and freak out when my boss asks me a question to which I cannot provide a thorough and immediate answer. It is why I am not fully myself in every relationship. Shrinking back from ALL of the freedom that God has for me, and stopping short of ALL of who I was created to be. All of this in order to protect an image, or not be embarrassed, is most definitely not God’s choice for my life. In a word, that would be “sin”.

So, for a while at least, it looks like my Saturday mornings will be ones of stepping to the right while everyone else is going left. Facing the wrong direction when everyone turns and my row is suddenly at the front. And making sure I am out of the way when it is time for my neighbor to kick in my direction. All the while growing in dependence on the blood of Jesus to cleanse me from self-consciousness and dance me into a whole new level of freedom.

- Brenda