The Ballerina & The Bulldog

I was at my mother’s recently and saw this picture hanging on her wall… a ballerina and a bulldog.

I say “aw that’s cute mom”

She says “I got that because it reminds me of you.”

I laugh and say “which one… the ballerina or the bulldog?”

She gives me a quirky look and says “the ballerina of course… because you did ballet when you were a little girl.”

I told her it was kinda funny that she selected that picture because of me… the ballerina me… because my husband sometimes calls me a “bulldog.”

Later that night, on the way home, that picture on my mother’s wall kept nudging at me…. I thought about how funny it was that unbeknownst to her… she had…. In selecting that one picture… nailed 2 distinct parts of who I am.

Tami the Ballerina - dances through life in her frilly girly way…. Loves all things pink and pretty (like tutus)…. Wants everything to be just so (like the perfectly coifed buns a ballerina twists her hair into)…. Has a need for balance (like when up on her tippy tippy toes dancing)….. Is kinda hard on herself always expecting perfection (like when honing a new dancing skill).

Tami the Bulldog - bites into something and won’t let go (this is why my hubby calls me a bulldog… I can be a little headstrong and refuse to let go until I‘ve gotten to the end.. Of whatever it is that has my attention at the moment)…. Aggressive (think snarling and drooly)…not always the first picked or most favored of all (like in the pet store when that cute lab puppy gets a home before the bulldog)…. Loyal (like that bulldog puppy fiercely protecting and defending it’s owners)… awkward (a little clumsy, stumbling through and often times falling all over themselves).

A friend of mine is always telling me when stuff like this happens she thinks it is God teaching her something… and so she searches for the lesson… I just couldn’t get the picture out of my head and I didn’t know why… why it felt significant…. why it felt as thought there was something I should have learned from seeing that picture. Like my friend, I began to search for the lesson… tried to let go mentally and fully tune into God and be open to what He was trying to show me… and then this thought popped into my head about how odd it is that I have these 2 drastically different pieces of myself… yet at the same time they each represent who I am deep down at the heart of it all.

I realized or LEARNED that it’s no accident… ballerina and bulldog… God made me this way for a reason…. in that moment… as I had those thoughts pop into my head so quickly… once I opened myself up to the possibility that God was actually trying to show me something…. It seemed so clear to me that there were things for me to do for God… Tami, the ballerina bulldog mix has work to do for GOD…. And that work can only be accomplished by God and ballerina bulldog mix me! My 2 distinct seemingly contradictory sides were perfectly matched for a purpose by God… I don’t know what that purpose is yet…. Maybe I have already fulfilled some of it…. But I know… God… if I keep listening… will lead me to that purpose.