When you love me
There's nothing I wouldn't try
I might even fly
--Sara Groves
In her audio book, Creating Health, Dr. Christiane
Northrup, M.D., speaks of a study done on a tribal people whose main past time was
running. What was of interest to
physicians and educators studying this tribe was not that the people ran, so
much as what they as a community believed about themselves as runners. It was a common belief amongst this entire
tribe that the best runners of all were aged 60 and above. The study concluded, after a battery of tests
on the runners in each age group, that indeed, the runners above the age of 60
truly were in best physical condition and had the fastest running times of any age
group younger than they. These people
had reached critical mass in their belief system, and were reaping incredible rewards
that left the western doctors and professors scratching their heads in
amazement.
According to Wikipedia, critical mass is a sociodynamic
term to describe the existence of sufficient momentum in a social system such
that the momentum becomes self-sustaining and fuels further growth. In this case, the tribe believed the oldest
runners were the best runners. Their belief became self-fulfilling prophecy, and
contrary to our western thoughts on aging, this tribe saw their elders out
perform all others physically to the point of their physical superiority being
proven scientifically. What they
believed literally went all the way down to their DNA.
We see this happen in the Greenhouse family a lot as we
endeavor together to elevate vision as Jesus-lovers to do great exploits
for the Kingdom through the arts, but I have specifically seen it played out in
my own journey recently.
As a part of my 'war of art' to break down resistance, I
made the commitment to myself and to my Greenhouse community that I would sing
AND play one of my own songs for open mic night. I have relied for many years on my freakishly-gifted musician husband to help me write my music, never once thinking I could
(or even should) do this for myself. Greenhouse
was supportive and encouraging about my proclamation, but I must admit I was
worried after I said it aloud.
I hang around some of the most gifted song crafters you
would ever want to know, and I was more than a little intimidated to lay out my
paltry offerings alongside theirs. I called
my friend Michelle to figure out how to even approach this task. You must know that Michelle is one of the
most gifted song crafting artists I have EVER heard. Yet, because we are family, I trust her
completely with my heart...with my life! She tells me the truth. And because of the relational equity we've amassed, I can take it when she tells the truth. Out of
that rich family relationship, I found out some amazing things about
adopting a belief system and reaching critical mass.
Michelle met with me and heard me play the song I was currently
writing. And then she told me three powerful
things about myself!
1) I know more than I think I do.
2) That if I would just push through the yucky, achey
practice part that everyone goes through at first, that in a very short time (she
quoted two weeks!) I would be running to the piano to play because SEE #1.
3) That my songwriting was worth doing. The song was worth finishing and playing live
for Open Mic night.
Once she said these things, I believed them for myself down
to my DNA, and started seeing the fruit come from that--especially in my own
heart. I started playing the little song in front of other individual humans
from my tribe, telling them these beliefs about myself and found momentum in
their encouragement that became self-sustaining and fueled more song writing
and more playing in front of other humans in the tribe. I wanted to practice because I knew that it
reaped huge benefits. I wanted to write
because my writing was worth doing. My
tribe had said so.
I did the song for the whole Greenhouse family on Open
Mic night. I was nervous and my performance was far from perfect,
but ultimately I was so pleased to be able to drop kick resistance out of my life
in the presence of MY great cloud of witnesses. It was a victory for me, but we as a family won. We all win when one of us gets up there on the stage and plays or reads or shows our latest creation on canvas.
Have you reached critical mass in your own sphere? Do you have that tribe with whom you can share a belief system that is fueled by encouragement, truth and launches each of you with a force and momentum driven by God? If not, ask God to set you in a family and be ready to go low and get messy. When you are loved this deeply, you will find courage to do all the things God has dreamed over your life. You might even fly!
