Foreign Waters: Pericles

Have you ever tried something new that you never have done before? I titled this post "Foreign Waters," because last week I did something that I never have done before. I went to a Shakespeare play. I have never had anything against Shakespeare, I just never really had a reason to get into it or watch a play. You might be wondering how I ended up at Pericles, the play that I watched. I am taking a Shakespeare class with four of my buddies and we were required to go. Shakespeare is not my cup of tea by any means, but it has been fun because of my buddies and making a couple new friends in the class. There is a dude who sits at table with us who is a theatre major and he was in the play so we were excited to go and support him in Pericles. Note that my buddies and I are all athletes here at Bethel and nearly everyone else is a theatre major. They are way more knowledgable with what is going on and the class and they still enjoy having us in there, well at least I hope so. Even though we have to do things like walk around the class room reading Shakespeare in iambic pentameter we still have fun. We attended PericlesThursday night and like I mentioned above, we were somewhat excited because we were looking forward to watching a couple of our classmates perform. As I was sitting and watching, I developed such a great appreciation for the theatre students and what they do. My favorite part about the night was that I got to watch people do the things they loved and were passionate about it. It was nice because it was different then what I am used to. I am used to watching my friends who are on various sports teams compete on a weekly basis, but classmates who were in theatre? I had never experienced anything like it. I enjoyed it because they are all so talented and put so much effort into it. Pericles might have been lengthy but I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Why did I tell you I want to Pericles? I told you because I want to encourage you to try something new. Do something that you have never done before and your eyes will be opened to many things. It doesn't have to be play. It can literally be anything. It's as easy as stepping out of your comfort zone. It's also as easy as showing your support to someone that might think you do not support them. I don't except anyone who was in that play to read this and I didn't post about it so that they could see it. I just cannot get over how cool it was to see classmates who I'm unfamiliar with do what they love and do it so well.

Next time you have the opportunity to try something new, do it. It might be a little awkward but so what. Maybe it's awkward for other people to do the same thing in return. It might be totally awkward for someone who was in Pericles to ever come to a basketball game, but if they ever do, I will be super thankful and pumped about.

When it comes down to it...we are all different and are all given our own special gifts and talents from God. Embrace them and use them to serve God and that is what matters, that is why he blessed you with them in the first place.