Dancing

A few years back, I was on a cruise ship with my husband and one of the activities offered was ballroom dancing. I drug him there to watch. I was mesmerized as the two dancers glided across the ballroom floor as if they were on a cushion of air. His right hand was placed just below her shoulder blade. His fingers were together and his hand slightly cupped allowing him to guide her with just the slight pressure of his fingers and the heel of his hand. Her left arm was gently resting on his upper arm and her right hand rested gently in the palm of his left hand and then raised to eye level. The music would range from up-tempo to slow. The tempo of the music dictated their moves and whether the music was fast or slow they responded with grace and ease. Nothing was quick and jerky. Each step was choreographed, each move predetermined, each turn at exactly the precise moment and yet it appeared to be totally without effort and free. There was never a time when the couple would go off on their own. They were one.

For two to become one takes time. To know your partners every little nuisance takes time and practice. To lose yourself to the music comes only after the discipline of knowing the music has been mastered. I am almost 5 foot and my husband is a little over 6 foot so we don’t exactly dance cheek to cheek. More like nose to belly button so we didn’t sign up to take the class (I think his exact words were over my dead body) but we did go and watch and the beauty of the dance captured me.

I have read that the word “guidance” means

G= God

U = You

I = I

dance

Guidance = God you and I dance.

Let me tell you the dance that God and I did this morning looked nothing like the beautiful graceful ballroom dancing on that cruise ship. No, it was more like a wild African tribal dance with my arms flailing, legs kicking and my partner...

nowhere in sight. I imagine God was on the edge of the dance floor bent over in laughter or His head turned away saying I can't watch. If you asked me about the music, I would honestly have to ask "what music?" I was so focused on me that anything external didn't even register. I was not one with God, I was not being gently lead by His hand, and I was definitely not graceful.

I want to learn to ballroom dance with God. I want God to be able to guide me gently through life with just the slight pressure of His hand. I want to be so well acquainted with how He moves and His timing that I effortlessly follow Him throughout my day. I want the words graceful, gently, and with ease to be spoken concerning my interaction with God. I want to hear and appreciate life’s music. I want the Lord and I to become one.

That is my dream and I am working on it. There are times when I am just so overwhelmed by God's goodness that I have to break out in one of my wild happy dances but going through life on my own - wild and unrestrained - is simply a recipe for disaster. Good thing I have a patient partner who doesn’t mind my two left feet, flailing arms, and the fact that I have no rhythm. Heh what’s that I hear – God is calling to me to the dance floor. Look out Fred Astaire and Ginger here comes God and Judy. First lesson - let God lead - should be interesting.