An audience of one

Have you ever found yourself altering your behaviour simply because of the people you are around?  Bowing to peer pressure?  Obsessed over what other people may think of you?  I am quite confident that we have all found ourselves in these situations in our lives.  Tonight I took my 5 year old daughter to her 2nd swimming lesson.  Her 1st swimming lesson (only a few days ago) went well...until they had her put her head under water.  She cried for several minutes afterwards.  I felt that nervous parent feeling in my stomach, thoughts raced through my mind about what the other parents were thinking, what the instructor was thinking, and then I decided to stand up, clap, yell "Great job!" and give her 2 thumbs up.  I felt awkward, I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing or not, but I knew that I wanted her to know that I saw her, and that I was proud of her.  After the lesson, we talked about how she didn't like going under water, and that it burned her eyes and I gave her some pointers.  Tonight, before we left for lesson #2, she said "Daddy, when I go under water, when I come up, will you give me 2 thumbs up?".  It was at this momment that I realized that she was giving her all just so she could get 2 thumbs up from dad...and that I had made an impact on her by being the wacky parent clapping, giviing thumbs up, and generally acting foolishes while his child was the only one in the pool crying.  In many people's eyes, I am confident that I was viewed as a fool, over protective, etc...and you know what...itwas worth it...and she did better tonight...still a few tears...but I stood up, clapped my hands, yelled "Great Job!", and gave her 2 thumbs up...and the tears quickly went away.  

This story has a point, and I want to tie it into tonight's scripture: And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. (2 Samuel 6:14 ESV)

If you are not familiar with this story, David dances in his undergarment in front of the Ark of the covenant, in front of everyone.  His wife get's angry with him and says he has made a fool of himself.  David replies that He will do even more things like this to celebrate in The Lord.  David wasn't putting on a show for the people, He had an audience of one...God.  He didn't care about what other people thought, He just wanted to honor and praise God.  

Tonight, after my experience with my daughter, I hope to teach her the value in seeking to please God through her efforts in life.  To teach her also not to worry about what other people think.  Dance, scream, shout, sing, cry, weap, hold nothing back and do it all for the glory of God...to live life for an audience of one (and the one is God...not me).

To complete the analogy, we are the child in the pool wanting to please Daddy (God). We get scared, and need pointers (Reading the bible), encouragement (praying and time spent in worship) to know what to do...but our Daddy (God) is standing at the side of the pool cheering us on, rooting for us, ready to give us 2 thumbs up. Forget about what anyone else might think...you have an Audience of one...and He is incredible.