Shall We Dance?

        I’m a Dancing with the Stars fan.  Anything that has to do with dance draws me in.    The thing I love about it is watching people who are not dancers learn moves they never knew they could do.    Part of the importance of the show though is to showcase the professional dancers who teach the stars.  They display their choreography and skill.  It’s really quite the metaphor for life.  

    Ty is a bull rider in the rodeo arena.  He’s a rough and tumble kind of guy.  The judges often said  that he looked like a robot, with his rigid moves.   “Lighten up”, relax” they said.

     Shawn is a 17 year old Olympic gymnast.  The judges kept telling her to let loose and connect with her partner.  The latin dances required her to show an intimate side, something she was not comfortable doing, especially with someone who was like a brother to her.   

      Gille was known for his sex appeal.  He’d been a model.  He’s used to people staring at him.  He had more difficulty showing sophistication.  He was encouraged to dial down on the raunchy  He showed too much.

      There’s balance in everything, even dancing.   You can have too much, be too raunchy, too rigid or have too little connection to the story of the dance.

      Each week the stars were given a new dance to learn, sometimes two.  They had a week to learn difficult steps.  They depended on their partner to not only choreograph them but to lead them into each step.

     As the show evolved I watched the stars look to their partners, who knew every move, every step.  In the process they learned to dance.  It was stunning. 

      There was something about watching Gille and Cheryl that was captivating.   They danced with unity and passion, connected, mutually submitted in trust to one another.   I wonder what life would look like if we saw Jesus look at us with a fierce zeal.  He does you know.  Would we would dance differently with Him.  Would we display a captivating picture?  Would people look at our lives lived out and see the captivating heart of Jesus on display?

    I wonder what would happen if our marriages were lived out of that.  What if we trusted God in the other person enough to submit ourselves in that kind of dance.  What would we display to the world around us?

      What if we lived in this dance with Papa like Ty?   He was committed to give his all.  Nothing held back.  He allowed himself to be seen in all aspects of the dance.  At times I believe he felt exposed in his weakness.  He was not a dancer.  It was way out of his comfort zone, yet he refused to give up and quit.  What if we lived life with nothing held back?  What if we let Jesus twirl us around allowing our weakness to be seen so that His strength would be demonstrated.  Would our relationships be richer?

      Shawn was a perfectionist who was used to pushing herself for excellence.   The judges challenged her to  let herself go, to find the pleasure in the dance.  She did.  It was beautiful.   What if we let go?  What if we relaxed, laying our efforts aside.  What if we gave up getting it right and allowed Jesus to perfect us.  What if we stopped needing our performance to please.  Would the beauty of God spill out all over our lives?

      We hold back, we give too much.  There’s balance in everything.  We are here to display His splendor.  It’s that simple.  As we place our hands into His He leads us into the choreography He has designed for us.  It’s not about us.   We are here to show Him off.  If we got that, what would our lives look like?

      He’s invited us into the dance.  The steps might look different from week to week.  The good news is we’re not on our own.  He’s got it all covered.   He knows the dance.  He created it.  

     They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.  Isaiah 61: 3b      

©copyrighted:  2009  Julie L. Todd