The Dance

While most of the folks I know probably cannot imagine me dancing, there was a time when I would cut a rug every now and again.  It was something I learned to do, or tried to do when I went to Young Harris College up in the north Georgia mountains.  Back then there was not much to do at Young Harris.  There was a motel with a restaurant which welcomed us in during the evening hours for coffee and an ice cream dispensary that had a pinball machine.  Entertainment was scarce; thus, the dancing at the occasional Saturday night college sponsored events.      

The truth is there was not much to dancing in those days.  Move a little or a lot and it was dancing.  But, even then with such a loose definition of what it meant to dance, I was a lousy dancer.  I always felt like I was out of sync.  Others seemed to hear a beat which was a mystery to me.  I moved about, waved my arms, and looked like someone who knew what to do, but it was something which never really gave me a comfortable "this is me" feeling.     

Sometimes this is exactly how we feel in our spiritual lives.  It does not happen all of a sudden, but we suddenly realize that we have gotten out of sync with the plan and purpose of the One who is our partner in this journey toward Home.  We no longer hear the beat of the Word.  We move about as one who knows what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, but deep within our spirit, we sense that something is wrong.  And, as we allow ourselves some moments of getting to know ourselves again, we come to know that our life has gotten out of step.  There is no longer any matching strides with the One who called us.  Fortunately, He is watching.  He knows.  And, He pauses and leads us to the place of the heart where we can once again right a life that is prone to stray and walk around out of sync with the holy purpose He has for us.