Dance Until It Rains!

There was once a tribe in Africa famous for their rain dances. Every time, without fail, they achieved a 100% success rate in summoning the great rains to fall. For years, neighboring tribes would visit to witness and learn their methods, which remained consistent season after season. Many foreign chiefs whispered among themselves that the rain-dance tribe wasn’t doing anything different from what they had practiced. After spending days with them, frustrated visitors would eventually give up and return home.

Anthropologists soon caught wind of this tribe and arrived to document their remarkable achievement. They observed patiently for days, sometimes weeks, waiting for the outcome. They filmed the dances, interviewed the sweaty natives during breaks, and allowed the children to continue dancing. Despite growing weary of the continuous nonsensical movements and moaning chants accompanied by clamorous noises from sticks of wood wrapped in seashells, the anthropologists persisted. Each night, they retired to their tents, falling asleep to the sounds of clapping hands, pounding drums, and the mysterious hope that the rain-dancers were confident in their success.

Then, one night, a loud thunderous barrel of rumbling clouds descended upon the village. As temperatures changed high above, a torrent of rain began to soak the ground. Success again! The anthropologists scrambled out of their tents, made of thin sheets of cotton, and gawked at the miracle before them.

One of the young anthropologists started laughing uncontrollably. He laughed so hard that he fell to the ground, pounding the muddy puddles. The others stared at him, wondering if he had lost his mind. "I got it! I got it!" the young man screamed into the sky. "They dance UNTIL it rains!!!" And that was the secret of this famous tribe. They never gave up. They didn’t stop when people questioned their methods. They persisted when they were weak. They kept going UNTIL. They moved UNTIL. They danced UNTIL it rained!

Here is the lesson I take away from this story: Do you have a dream, a vision, a calling, or a goal not yet realized? When you’re tired, when you’re weak, when you’re beaten down, when you’re discouraged... Dance Until It Rains!