The Dance part 1
One of my favorite songs goes like this, "Life's a dance, you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don't worry 'bout what you don't know, life's a dance... you learn as you go." I think this is so true. But, when we have this kind of rigid idea of what we think life is supposed to be, any misstep, or mistake, can throw us for a loop. Instead of enjoying the journey--or the dance--we try so hard to make it be something that it's not that we end up missing out on what it's supposed to be. Jesus said it like this, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). See, if we think we're in control and we have to do everything perfectly right in order to get to where we think we need to go... then we are setting ourselves up for failure. The wind blows where it will. The Spirit knows where we're supposed to be, and how to get us there. And, in fact, since we are already there all the Spirit really does is reveal to us where we are... reveal to us WHO we are. Remember the thoughts of God? Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." That expected end is the Promised Land. And God gave us that expected end on the cross. So, again, when we're talking about life we're not talking about getting anything, or getting anywhere. We're talking about receiving and releasing the gift that we've been given. We're talking about living this abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by letting Jesus live it in and through and as us. We're talking about letting the Spirit lead; letting the wind blow us wherever it will. We're talking about dancing. And listen, besides dancing with my three year old son, Logan... I'm not much of a dancer. I don't have any rhythm and I can't carry a tune in a bucket. So when I see a verse like Psalm 150:4, "Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs," it would be easy for me to get discouraged. But watch this, because this is absolutely magnificent: "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17). And that phrase, "rejoice over thee" literally means, "dance, skip, leap, and spin around in joy." I'm telling you, God never requires ANYTHING of us that He doesn't provide for us. We dance for Him because He dances over us! He dances IN us! He's a happy God and the work is finished and now it's time to party! We don't have to do anything except let Him do whatever He wants to do in and through and as us. Present our bodies as living sacrifice. Let Him dance in you and through you and as you. Let Him LIVE in you and through you and as you. It's ok if you don't know the steps, because life's a dance. You learn as you go.