Got Rhythm?

I don’t.   In fact, I grew up with parents who believed that dancing was a sin.   As my husband shared with the congregation yesterday, I took a note to third grade saying I couldn’t square dance in PE.   So dancing has never been my thing and I’m not thinking it ever will be.

But in 2nd Samuel 6:14 we learned that "David danced before the LORD with all his might.”    This verse describes a specific time in his life, but there were many times where David’s life was like a dance to God.  

Dance is a great metaphor.   I remember way back in 2000 I heard Deborah Hage speak.  She is the parent of ten adopted children (we had 4 or seven at the time I believe) and she was my hero because her kids were almost grown and she was still alive!   She ended her presentation (and she ends one of her books) with the words from Garth Brooks:

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end, the way it all would go
…..
I could have missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss the dance.

I started at that time to view life as a dance — and to remember that if you miss the pain, you also miss the joy and the rhythm that make up the good parts of life.  .

As I was writing this I thought, “Wow, I haven’t read her Christmas letters for a while” and went to her website to see what was happening in her life.   I was shocked to find that her husband had died and read this amazing letter.    

We all have rhythm.  It may not lead us to be great dancers, but our lives have a series of dance moves.     But I am comforted by the fact that Jesus is the Lord of the Dance…. He is the choreographer, so to speak, and knows what moves and routines will be required of us.  He’s in charge and, as I remind you often, He’s got us.