salt-shaker.blog

What’s not to like about the tv show Dancing with the Stars? Apparently not much, as it is in its 34th season, which is winding down next month. You have to admire the pluck of the celebrities, venturing out into a challenge that could prove embarrassing. A lot of work, but fun! The costumes, the choreography, the symmetry, the music, the applause. The chemistry and coordination of synchronized movement is truly poetry in motion and a joy to behold. The bending of two hearts to a common rhythm creates intense beauty.  One leading is invitation – not command. The other yielding not in weakness, but offering trust. It reminds me of what it is like to walk with God.

Really, you might ask? That seems more like being a puppet with all the moves laid out with exacting specificity – moves that often feel unnatural and forced. That’s logical. Our connection to God brings us into a totally different realm of reality, an existence hidden to the world and unfamiliar to our own programming. We do not usually look at this calling as a place of creative expression, since it is true we are called to follow. Our cooperation does not seem to leave room for creativity. We filter the rules through a false view of God, which obscures their function as protection rather than restriction. We forget that God gifted humanity with His good world, asking Adam to name the creatures and arrange the garden. We are collaborators – not robots.

Misperception of God’s intention obscures our nobility. Destiny is discovered on the heavenly dance floor. Here we are not bound by insecurity unless we choose to be. He picked us as partners, after all. Our worth is not tied to our performance, so we are free to engage without censure – from Him at least. But we, like the celebrities, must learn to move to a new rhythm and trust our Partner as He leads us into unfamiliar steps. We sometimes struggle to master the new moves, tripping over His feet, unable to get out of our own heads. But He is eminently patient. We forget that He did not save us to dominate us, but to liberate us, and that He welcomes our initiative in the dance just like He did in the garden. He delights in our trust – not our ability. 

Puppetry is, by contrast, the dark art of our demanding mortal enemy, not a strategy of the gentle Eternal. Satan pulls the manipulative strings, we move. His ancient tango has seduced many a soul. Without God, separation and isolation is our default. Autonomy, the insistence on our own version of truth (that often collides with reality), makes couples’ dancing difficult. Our worth is desperately interwoven to our own song, so we do the thing that my generation perfected – dancing alone alongside our partner. It can look good, but lacks the breathtaking elegance of a couples’ dance. So used to going solo, and oblivious to the fact that our moves are largely choreographed by the brilliant thief who is invested in our destruction, we hesitate to get on the dance floor. Fear, doubt, and distrust keep us distant. Many don’t even come to the dance, but so many who are there come as spectators – in the room perhaps, but wallflowers tapping their toes to the music.

To those who timidly walk onto the dance floor, He extends His waiting hand, delighted to receive us, gently cutting the familiar strings that have tied us to untruths about Him. Our new dance is unfamiliar, awkward, and we hurt from the falls and missteps. At first we waltz, but slowly learn the dips and twirls of an exciting new dance. He is such a patient teacher, thrilled with our willingness to learn. We trade in our shabby shame outfits for dazzling grace garments. The angels applaud our progress, a great cloud of witnesses cheers us on. And our joy knows no bounds.

Note:

This story is a reaction to the admonition to “Take the time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit… Spiritual fitness is essential both for the present life and the life to come.”

Shalom