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*A Time to Dance* 2/21/02 __________________________ If you enjoy this free daily email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of many! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, join the thousands of HeartTouchers.com readers around the world by sending an e-mail with the word "Subscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@aol.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past stories in our archives at: http://www.HeartTouchers.com ____________________________________________ From now on we will be offering our book, Straight From the Heart "A Celebration of Life" for only $13 (instead of the regular price of $14.95), and best of all, we will pay the shipping! So if you have any interest in purchasing an autographed copy of the book for yourself, or as a gift for your loved ones, now is the time to get it! To order your autographed copy send a check or money order for $13 (We pay the shipping!) for each book made out to Michael T. Powers, and then send it to: Michael T. Powers 1918 Liberty Lane Janesville, WI 53545 To preview the book by reading some of the stories visit: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/michael_t__powers/ AOL Users Click below: Straight From the Heart: A Celebration of Life _________________________________________ It has been a while since I have been able to share a story from friend and talented writer, Lynelle Dawson. Be sure to write to her and visit her web site after you read about her little dancer! From my family to yours, Michael _________________________________________ A Time to Dance By Lynelle Dawson "Leave her be," the woman laughingly mouthed to me from across the aisle, "she's fine!" The "her" she was referring to was my 2 1/2 year old daughter, Kallie. As a 36-year-old single mom of a toddler, I am intent upon raising my daughter in a safe, loving, creative, respectful, Christian environment, yet this involved a great number of skills in areas I'd not had the foresight to even remotely anticipate. Such as allowing her freedom of creative expression while also guiding her towards strong values from within; teaching her to conform to accepted societal boundaries, yet not bow to their standards; providing examples of when it is justifiable to desire to fit in and when one needs to have the integrity to strike out upon their own path; and in short, helping her to learn how to discern the difference between why she should, or shouldn't, march to the beat of her own drummer in any given situation. This particular moment happened to fall within those murky, indiscernible boundaries, one that could very well be a determining factor regarding Kallie's emotional comfort level in church as well as towards God and His followers. As five-year-old Chelsi, another member's daughter, attempted to corral Kallie, I nodded to her in sympathy when she retreated in failure from retrieving my daughter from the middle of the church aisle. Chelsi only shook her head as if to say, "Kids!" The church members were singing "Praise Him!" along with the choir; many members of the choir were visibly grinning not just from the song, but also from watching my daughter. Kallie was only doing what came completely natural to her, as I had taught her, from the moment of her birth, by gently swaying to Vivaldi and Mozart when she was an infant and by later performing various dancing routines to toddler tunes such as "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and the "Hokey Pokey." The church was singing, therefore, Kallie, with body swaying, hips swinging, feet tapping, and hands waving, all in time to the music, was dancing -- in the middle of the aisle. She had done this before, however, always before she would simply "accidentally" dance her way into the aisle. This time, though, the second the music began, she dutifully raced out into the aisle for her performance. It took only a fraction of an indecisive moment for me to realize her dancing in the aisles was not an action that needed to be controlled. Rather than being concerned about what some from the "old school" might say regarding children acting appropriately in religious settings, I needed to only be concerned with my child's impression of God, our church, her future Christianity and life in general. If anyone were to comment to the contrary, I would most assuredly say, "I see your point, however, I only hope her joy at being in church and loving God is never contained because I want her to feel comfortable in shouting from the rooftops how much she loves Him, if that is her choice." So, I suppose, until she hits the age of embarrassment or peer pressure, our church will continue to be graced with a tiny toddler dancing in the middle of the aisle to every song we sing. The true beauty of the moment was, as soon as the song was completed, she immediately turned to me with outreached hands to be lifted up into my arms so we could bow our heads together in prayer. I need not have worried at all -- my lovely daughter knew exactly when it was time to act appropriately. Lynelle Dawson themesndreams@aol.com Write Lynelle and let her know your thoughts on her story! ____________________________ Lynelle and Kallie live in Oklahoma with their menagerie of pets. Kallie is almost literally growing up in church as the church parking lot meets right up to their property -- they simply walk through the back gate and they are there. Talk about convenient! Lynelle is a Heartwarmer Gem, HeartTouchers featured author and a published writer; to read more of her writing, please go to: Tomorrows Leaders Corp. Do you need a unique and sentimental gift for that oh so special person in your life? Visit Lynelle's storefront. (http://www.auctionworks.com/store/shop.asp?sfid=9905&cmd=shop&c=56661) _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "Before you borrow money from a friend, decide which you need more." Verse for the Day: "The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender." --Proverbs 22:7 Kid's Thought For The Day: Confidence is a life-ingredient that is essential to success and wholeness. It is perhaps the single most important trait that enables "average" people to do and become all that they can. Like the little boy sitting on the bench at his team's baseball game. When asked by a concerned parent if he was discouraged that his team was behind 14 to nothing, he responded, "Discouraged? Why should I be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet!" Parent's Thought For The Day: "Work on your marriage and family life all the time. Why? Because the enemy is." Coach's Thought For The Day: "Remember the banana: Whenever it leaves the bunch, it gets skinned!" Writer's Quote For the Day: "I never had any doubts about my abilities. I knew I could write. I just had to figure out how to eat while doing this." -- Cormac McCarthy Deep Thought For The Day: "Hard work never hurt anyone who hired somebody else to do it." ___________________________________________ _ /_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS \_\ / HeartTouchers@aol.com /_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no \_\/\ \ longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I \_\/ live in the body I live for the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 ___________________________________________ The copyrights to the stories that appear in HeartTouchers.com are owned by the authors and are used with their permission. We refuse to run stories without the author's permission and contact info listed after the story. We also refuse to publish stories listed as "author unknown." (All of which violates Copyright Law and the rights of the authors.) This e-mail may be forwarded in its entirety, but please do not cut and paste the stories to be used elsewhere unless you have contacted and been given permission by the individual writer. Thank you so much for honoring the rights of those writers who graciously share their stories with us! __________________________________________ Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business "I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video we gave them. They loved it, to say the least! Within thirty seconds my mom was crying and my dad did too. They said it was the best Christmas gift we could have given them!! You did such a beautiful job! They were so surprised and so touched--they really, really, really loved it. Thanks for helping to make it so special to us all. My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for the video too! Thanks again!" Kelli-- College Station, TX Let me make you a video from your pictures or home movies! Check out the web page for Michael's video production business! Visit: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery/ AOL Users click here: Video Imagery ___________________________________________ Would you like to see your story in HeartTouchers.com? Writer's guidelines can be found on our Web site here: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/guidelines/ AOL Users click here: Writer's Guidelines ___________________________________________ SUBSCRIBE: "I need a daily source of inspiration and encouragement in my life!" To become a HeartTouchers.com Member send an e-mail with "Subscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@AOL.COM Then get ready to laugh, cry, and be deeply touched by some of the best stories on the Internet! __________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: All you have to do is send an e-mail with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject line to: HeartTouchers@aol.com Give it a day or two to be processed... __________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm AOL Users click here: The Four Spiritual Laws __________________________________________ |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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