Lessons from Dance lessons

[A reader submitted Word for this week’s reflection- DANCE]

“To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking” ― Agnes De Mille

At our 2010 wedding, only a few lessons.

My husband and I are taking dance lessons. He gave them to me as a gift, and we have kept it up as an opportunity to learn something new together. Talk about challenge.  It is an awesome challenge as we learn to Rumba, Foxtrot, Swing and Hustle.

First, I did not know my body could move some of the ways these dances require. Second, it is really about partnership. We joke about me letting my husband lead. He does, and I let him. He hopes it will rub off through the rest of our life. Three, both of us need to remember not to spend time beating oneself up, just stay flexible and in the fun.

“Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire” ― Robert Frost (Yes, the poet Robert Frost)

Working together we keep each other going, learning and growing. (I wish I could say that it has shrunk us too, but that is not the case yet.) And still earl-ish in our life together, it helps build our bodily connection and chemistry (in public).

Besides a great date night connection and immense fun, dancing is teaching us about each other for our marriage. Ballroom dance is an art form of the twosome. We learn a true give and take. It is about building trust, teamwork and chemistry.  And it has a lot of fun twists and turns too.

                “Dance is the hidden language of the soul.”  Martha Graham

Another lesson I have taken from dance is that it is much like faith – a commitment to trust, giving and receiving, leading and following. You must be present and breathe. And you do feel alive. The Robert Frost quote aside, I do not fathom why dance has such a bad stigma in the world of faith. (Think “Footloose”)  In the Bible King David dances.  Nature dances and claps its hands in the Psalms. When filled with the Spirit, how can we keep from singing, or dancing?!

“You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
    You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with

joy,
My soul must sing and not be silent, O God, and I will praise you forever!” Psalm 30:11-12 (NIV)

 We don’t look down on dancing in our church, but we do overlook it. Although occasionally you can catch my pastor moving to the music, sometimes off beat. Dancing is an outward expression of our inward experience. People filled with faith exude joy and thankfulness. These are people magnify the Spirit of life! We dance because we are loved. We work in trust and partnership because we are forgiven. We flow together with graceful movements. My prayer is that the Church never stifles this sense of God’s Spirit and Song. I pray we are swayed by the Spirit and continue the sacred celebration .

“You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.”  ― Merce Cunningham

 “Dancing is what you do when you arrive at where God wants you to be.”  Leonard Sweet

(Len is one of my favorite theologians. His statement here feels so true for my life today.)

KEEP DANCING!  Don't stop, even if the music does. Let the joy inside take over.

Blooming where you are Planted

bloom•ing (ˈblu mɪŋ)

adj. 1. flowering; blossoming.  2. glowing, as with vigor.  3. prospering.  4. Chiefly Brit. (used as an intensifier.)

Last week it still looked and felt like winter. Suddenly this week, it is obvious spring has arrived. Most everything has blossomed and bloomed. Dull browns have turned to bright greens. Shoots have pushed their way out of the ground. Tree’s leaves have budded out. Bugs have started to appear. Robins and rabbits hop around the yard. Some flowers have opened. And all our neighbors exist again!

  
While things seemed dead and dormant for a while, life finds its way and circles back to growing and blooming.

 

One tree however was still dormant looking despite life finding its way all over the place.

This tree is a later bloomer.  Mom always said I was a LATE BLOOMER. It always irritated me as a child, but especially as a teenager. I was smart, socially aware and I knew I was destined for good things.  I just didn’t always do or appreciate the same things or in the same ways that my peers did – screaming after the latest Hollywood hottie (I liked various real boys), giggling and gossiping, planning my princess wedding (didn’t envision it happening), being a fashion plate (we didn’t have the money for the latest fashion) or running all over town with friends to do all of the above (I wanted to go to college and loved to hole up with a book.)

[S]He who leans on, trusts in, and is confident in riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish like a green bough. Proverbs 11: 28 Amplified Bible

Sometimes life isn’t what we are told, or what we expect. Definitely, not what television depicts. Are we learning? Developing? Taking in what we need for the next stage? We are blooming. Is our shaping and growing happening in ways we do not see or others may not see? Do not be afraid. Or do not let other voices shape you into something you are not.

Just because my blossoms weren’t coming in someone else’s time frame does not mean I was not blooming. I had buds and was blooming where I was. Sometimes I was lonely, but it was deeply satisfying to see ideas come to fruition, plans get organized into reality, and projects develop in my time.  And I did recently get married to a most amazing man that I would never have met if I was all those other things.  Better “late” than never. But if never happened, I like who I have grown to be.

Growing in grace they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of spiritual vitality and grow lush in trust, love, and contentment. Psalm 92: 14

 

 

As long as you live, keep learning how to live.  Latin Proverb

Recently, I realized it is worse to be a Non-bloomer. A non-bloomer chooses not to grow or change. A non-bloomer chooses not to live. Most people get stuck from time to time, but when a person gets rooted in place and shows no signs of life, this is sad for all involved. People choose non-blooming through fear or confusion.  What life throws our way can make us want to hunker down, pull in the roots and the tender shoots that get wounded so easily.

But plant those roots. For me it is in my faith through prayer, the company of God’s people and trust in God that I can reach upward in rain or shine to blossom and bloom wherever I am at the time. Every moment is a lesson and fertilizer for growth. Put your face to the sun and grow to your best.

...there shall be no end to our central joy when once we ascend to the stratosphere

 of our richer abilities.  Helen Keller

 

We all must bloom where and when we are planted. Live with vigor and grace even in less than idea situations. Bloom where you are planted.

 

WORD OF NOTE: Next week will involve a submitted word and my reflections on a challenge you give me. Feel free to submit a word for next time or in the future.