Lenten Reflection for March 12th

Part of my experience as an Indigenous First Nations has been becoming a Pow Wow dancer. I dance both Northwest Coast Traditional as well as Fancy Shawl. I remember when I first started dancing at Pow wows, I was horribly nervous! Despite much encouragement and support from my husband, I would still fidget around and wring my hands as I waited for my turn to enter the dance arena, wondering why I was putting myself through this experience if it was so nerve-wracking. 

One of the first Pow Wows I danced at I met a family whose young daughter was just starting out dancing, that day was her first time to dance at a Pow Wow. She was clinging to her mum who gave me a smile and told me how nervous her daughter was about dancing. I crouched down and smiled at the girl, telling her how nervous I was too. Her eyes went wide at the realisation that a grown-up like me might be just as nervous! 

I told her it was alright to be nervous, some kinds of nerves means we’re about to do something that’s important and we want to make sure we do well. We have important roles as dancers, as we dance, we pray for those watching us and we help them see our history and culture.

When they called for dancers to enter the arena, I was honoured to enter the circle beside that young girl, both of us feeling a bit more confident in our role and mission. This was a lesson to me as well, to be attentive to where God needs me to be, to share His Gifts with others.

Sometimes we might think of Courage as being a large display of self-sacrifice, and yes there are times when this might be the case, we certainly see examples of this from many Saints and martyrs. Courage actually is often defined as not the absence of fear, but making the right choice in spite of being afraid. We read this encouragement in Scripture, “Be strong and bold…it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Courage can be the small, everyday actions of choosing what is right and good that will lead us closer to Jesus. We can take heart knowing the Lord is always with us.

Let’s continue to pray for an increase of the Spirit’s Gift of Fortitude this Lenten season!

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Part of my experience as an Indigenous First Nations has been becoming a Pow Wow dancer and I remember when I first started dancing at Pow wows, I was horribly nervous! I would fidget around and wring my hands as I waited for my turn to enter the dance arena, asking myself why was I doing this if it made me so nervous? 

One of the first Pow Wows I danced at I met a young girl who was dancing for the very first time at a Pow Wow. Her mum smiled and told me how nervous her daughter was about dancing. So I smiled at the girl, telling her how nervous I was too. She was so surprised that a grown-up like me might be just as nervous as she was! 

I told her it was alright to be nervous, some kinds of nerves means we’re about to do something that’s important and we want to try to do our best. We have important roles as dancers, as we dance, we pray for those watching us and we help them see our history and culture.

Having Courage doesn’t always mean doing something ‘big’ and brave. Usually Courage will be shown in the little choices we make each day that will help us to appreciate God’s love for us and the way we share it with others. 

If there are times that you feel you need more Courage, you can try to remember encouraging words from the Bible, one verse says,  Be strong and brave…Don’t be frightened. The Lord your God will go with you. He will not leave you or forget you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Always remember God is with you!