Lockdown Day 7: THE BALLROOM AND THE BALCONY

The reality in life is that we will only see what we give attention to. If we do not give attention to the Kingdom of God during the current pandemic, we will not see the fingerprints of a sovereign God in the lives of people. If we only focus on the negative, we will only see the negative; fear, anguish, death, and disaster.

The challenge is to move between the ballroom and the balcony.

Ronald Heifetz, Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership at Harvard University, often draws on the metaphor of the BALLROOM and the BALCONY.

“Let’s say you are dancing in a big ballroom. Most of your attention focuses on your dance partner, and you reserve whatever is left to make sure you don’t collide with dancers close by. When someone asks you later about the dance, you exclaim, ‘The band played great, and the place surged with dancers.’

But if you had gone up to the balcony and looked down on the dance floor, you might have seen a very different picture. You would have noticed all sorts of patterns. You might have noticed that when slow music played, only some people danced; when the tempo increased, others stepped onto the floor; and some people never seemed to dance at all. The only way you can gain both a clearer view of reality and some perspective on the bigger picture is by distancing yourself from the fray.”

In the ballroom, our perspective is limited and restricted to the dance floor. On the balcony, our perspective would have revealed a far bigger picture that would have included all the role-players and the various scenarios. However, if we want to affect what is happening, we must return to the dance floor.

Don’t waste time by waiting for ‘better days’. The challenge is to move between the ballroom and the balcony. Patiently endure and continue to give attention to the bigger picture – God’s picture.

Matthew 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad, BECAUSE great is your reward in heaven…”