Life Alignment

As you can see from my previous post, I enjoyed a time of belly dancing while in Atlanta last week. I also recently attended a conference to combat sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Part of that conference was a belly dancing performance. These two experiences with the same thing along with my work with Jubilee and conversations around what I deem as valid ways to treat women has caused me to start thinking.

My thoughts:

At the conference I was struck by the beauty, talent, and expression of the human body. I was inspired that as we were discussing ways to combat exploitations we could still celebrate the bodies that God designed for expression, enjoyment, sexuality, etc.

In Atlanta, I got a similar feeling at first, then I looked around at the others in the place; only us (4 women), a pair of gentleman, and a single man. Now, granted it was a Thursday night and it was a pricey place so maybe its typical to be that private of a show. But, something struck me as odd. I got a feeling that these men might be acting differently if there wasn't a table of women sitting there, I was concerned about the amount of trafficking that goes on in Atlanta. I was wondering if I was being too judgmental.

I have had other conversations with my husband, neighbors, family, friends, etc. that challenge my thinking on what is being extreme in my distaste towards what I deem as exploitation and objectification and what might actually be concerning.

I could go on, but will limit for the sake of this post.

Conclusions (sort of)---

As I'm becoming more aware of the need for freedom in extreme cases, I am challenged to think of the need for freedom in other areas (not just belly dancing). This makes me think more deeply about how I align my life, actions, conversations, and make choices. I am choosing to look at life more complexly. This is challenging.

Have you ever faced a similar question?