Shall We Dance?

"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing, and have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.  O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!              ~ Psalm 30:11-12

When Dan and I were young and first married we went to a little church next to our home town filled with Jesus people on fire for the Lord.  We used to sing a song taken from the above verse.  I can still see my cousin leading worship with his arms raised and keeping time with the tempo of the song.  The pastor would be wailing on his guitar inevitably to break a string or two.  Another friend would be playing the organ (we didn't have key boards then) and she could hardly contain herself sitting there.  The man playing the bass would be rockin' and the drums..... well, they were loud.  The people in the congregation would be clapping and many were foot stomping.  A happy time for a happy people.  We were happy because we knew we were broken but we also knew that there was One who had come and healed our broken bones and put a song in our hearts.  The band was good and talented but that wasn't what caused us to sing with abandon and clap wildly.  The Great Musician had come to us and we couldn't help but dance to the music that He had placed in our hearts.

Not everyone can hear the music of heaven.  This is sad but true.  It's a different melody than one hears in this world.  It also takes a lifetime of training to hear the full orchestra.  The training can be strenuous and hard at times but produces a musical ear to hear the melody that is so sweet.  Of course, there are also many who fake dancing to the music of heaven because it looks like fun.  But unless you actually hear that song of the Great Musician the training will become too difficult and there won't be any motivation to continue.

Once you have heard the Song you will see it and hear it everywhere.  I can go out on my back deck and look up at the trees and see them swaying in tempo.  Even in the rain and storm the crescendo of the thunder is like heavenly cymbals giving praise to the Creator.  It is all around and it is no wonder that the psalmist was always encouraging many to give thanks and praise to God.  One only has to take a breath of air to realize that we are but a whisper and then the next breath comes reminding us of the tempo of life rising and falling.

There is something about dancing that is freeing.  I am talking figuratively here but I did read an article by Andre' Seu once as she talked about dancing.  She mentioned that once you get on that dance floor you forget yourself as you move one foot after another.  This makes me think that it is in the forgetting of and abandoning of ourselves to something else that gives freedom.  For the Christian there is only one dance that we follow because of the Song.  For the Christian Jesus is the Song of heaven and He is the One who teaches us to dance with abandon.

There is a song from the musical "The Music Man" that struck me in a different way that what was intended.  Here are the words:

There were bells on the hill but I never heard them ringing,
No, I never heard them at all till there was you.
There were birds in the sky but I never saw them winging,
No, I never saw them at all till there was you.
And there was music, and there were wonderful roses,
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows of dawn and dew.
There was love all around but I never heard it singing,
No, I never heard it at all till there was you.

Jesus, the Song of heaven, gives eyes to see what wasn't seen before and because of that you can't help but join in the dance.  And once you taste of that heavenly Song there is no going back.   There is no going back because nothing else ever satisfies the longing of the soul who yearns for the freedom of dancing.