Divine Dance
By Jeannine Sawall
“This is what the Lord says
- - your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your
God who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you
should go.”
Isaiah 48:17 (NIV)
I
love to dance and for almost two years, I’ve been taking ballroom dance
lessons. However, as easily as I am able to pick up the steps of each dance,
the one thing I struggle with is letting my partner lead. As you can imagine,
this causes all sorts of problems.
Today,
my lesson focused on the importance of being led. As my teacher tried to spin
me to the left, I anticipated going to the right and ended up stepping on her
foot, fighting against the way she wanted me to go. While it is my job to keep
my feet moving, she said it is not my job to anticipate the next move. She
explained that my job is to enjoy the music, allowing myself to trust my dancer
to lead me, even if we are offbeat or miss a step. As long as my feet are doing
what they are supposed to and I am following, we will still look graceful and get to where
we’re going. It’s when I get so focused on what I know I should do and stop
taking cues from my dancer, I find myself frustrated, out of step and lost. As
we tried again, this time with my focus on the dancer and not on what I thought I was supposed to do, we gracefully made our
way around the dance floor.
How
often do we do the same thing in our dance with the Lord? We make our path more
difficult when we try to anticipate His next move or fight the direction He wants
to lead us. We get so focused on what we think we should do, we take our eyes
off the Dancer.
It’s
when we surrender to Him and allow Him to lead us, we find His timing is
perfect and the stress of wondering what we need to do next is taken from our
shoulders. We can let go, because we can trust He will have our back. Sure, we
will make some missteps along the way when our focus strays, but when we place
our hand back in His, He picks us up, never missing a beat. As our gaze focuses
once again on the Dancer, we move effortlessly in His grace. Our life-dance
requires our feet to move, but when we surrender to Him, our feet will move in
the direction He desires and everything flows.
GOING DEEPER:
1.
Who is leading you in your dance?
2.
How will you trust the Dancer to have your back?
FURTHER READING:
Jeannine is a wife
and mother of four active boys. She works in the property management business.
Jeannine is actively involved in ministry to those walking through grief.
