I wrote this piece 8 years ago today. But its lessons apply today more than ever – even we can no longer dance together physically because of Covid. I learn anew what it means to dance with God in the pandemic.
This morning as I was dancing, many thoughts came to mind about living life and dancing:
1. As i kept my eyes on our instructor, I was able to follow each of his move and step no matter how fast or how new the move was…. same in life, as I keep my eyes on my instructor in life, I am able to follow and be attuned to his move and be in step with Him.
2. This familiarity is not built on a day of dancing nor even a few sessions each week; I started out as a newbie – learning the style and music the instructor gave us – which i have been joining for years now.. It also needs consistent and persistent regular practice dancing with him.. same with our Lord – to know Him – i need to be in constant communication with Him – reading His word and listening to Him in prayer and telling him all my cares and concerns..
3. And just when i think that I have enough sweating and panting, jumping and twisting, i realised that the instructor is just warming up – he is leading us into the climax of our dance sessions – the steps get more challenging – i feel like panting and out of breath.. but I had to keep on to go to the next level.. Same with God, just when i think i have hurdled a difficult lesson, he gives me more challenging ones to learn.. He is just warming up and I sometimes feel like i’m so out of breath.. but i need to keep on..
4. When it comes to my dance class, my classmates are as important as my instructor. Their enthusiasm inspire me. Those who dance better than I do – are my guide when the instructor takes his break or stops even for a moment. I look to them if i cant remember the next step.. I also try to emulate their movements, their energy level, their high spirit, even their sexy moves…They inspire me to give my best and my all. Same in my Christian journey, i look to my spiritual mentors and leaders – those who model the true Christian spirit of joy, peace, love, patience, kindness, faithfulness, goodness and self-control. No Christian can survive life’s challenges alone. A piece of coal gets cold all by itself – it can only burn and produce heat when it is put in a heap of coal.
5. Classmates who are not as gifted in dancing, also have their lessons for me to learn.. I have a classmate who should be graded no. 1 for her good attitude and effort she puts into each session. What she lacks in coordination and kinesthetics intelligence, she more than makes up with her zeal and enthusiasm. This morning, she was going in the opposite direction as the rest of us. She even has the ability to laugh at herself. And all of us were just enjoying her moves in spite of it all. in a similar way, in the Christian faith, we have different level of maturity in the school of faith, but we all have something to learn from one another. It’s not about who was Christian the longest. It’s not about who knew more of theological stuff or about who serve and do more ministries than others. It’s about how we love God and live out our faith in the minute trivial routines of everyday living.
