{"id":4032,"date":"2024-09-24T09:11:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T13:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4032"},"modified":"2024-09-24T09:12:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T13:12:13","slug":"simple-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/24\/simple-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Simple Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>

As video game designer Matt Harding approached mid-life, he became captivated by the idea of dancing at famous spots around the world.

Here\u2019s the rub: Matt Harding is not a great dancer.

In fact, he describes his movements as \u201cuncoordinated, unselfconscious silliness.\u201d

He has nonetheless become one of the world\u2019s most celebrated dance performers.

That\u2019s almost certainly because Matt has a subversive mission. 

He doesn\u2019t just film himself doing jigs in interesting places. He recruits and trains ordinary people of every nation to join him. His most ambitious effort, which was released in July 2012, involves hundreds of strangers in 55 countries and 11 US states.

Harding is inviting the tens of millions who watch his videos on YouTube to imagine a world in which people of every background, ethnicity, and political persuasion might laugh, dance, and look silly together, if only for a few minutes.

Some of the locales almost take your breath away: North Korea, Serbia, Pakistan, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Iraq, Rwanda, Russia, Afghanistan, and Syria (where the faces of the female dancers had to be blurred for their own protection).

First you might find yourself thinking: How in the world did a video game designer from Seattle gain entry to all these places?

Then you might wonder: Isn\u2019t this one of those countries on the State Department\u2019s don\u2019t-visit list? Isn\u2019t this where the genocide happened, or the bomb just killed those people in the market, or the dictator is cracking down? Aren\u2019t we supposed to dismiss these people out of hand?

This fall, when trust is in short supply and suspicion is rife, Matt Harding\u2019s uplifting video<\/a> is a joyful place to turn.

There is no preaching here. Matt\u2019s videos do not make theological statements.  

Instead, he is demonstrating the reality of \u201ccommon grace\u201d \u2013 the very thing Jesus was talking about when he said that his Father in heaven \u201ccauses his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous\u201d (Matthew 5:45). That same Father bestows the gifts of laughter and simple joy on any who are willing to receive them.

So savor the music. 

Enjoy the crazy settings.  

And pray that God\u2019s vision for a world in which people can somehow see with new eyes and come alongside each other might actually be fulfilled.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here As video game designer Matt Harding approached mid-life, he became captivated by the idea of dancing at famous spots around the world. Here\u2019s the rub: Matt Harding is not a great dancer. In fact, he describes his movements as \u201cuncoordinated, unselfconscious silliness.\u201d He has nonetheless become one of the world\u2019s most celebrated… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[629,262,555],"class_list":["post-4032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-common-grace","tag-dancing","tag-joy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4032"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4035,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4032\/revisions\/4035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}