Rules of the Dance

4/19/10 Earlier this month I blogged about “rules” in life---rules for our own safety and protection. I intimated that for me some rules are easier to follow than others. Believe it or not I see this analogy very clearly in dance. Following the step patterns (rules of the dance) is important but some steps or routines are just easier than others. When one is dancing with a partner, more often than not, it is the ability of the one following the leader to relinquish the lead and totally depend on the “lead” which makes the dance flow. It looks easy. Seamless. Hard to see where one ends and the other begins. Beautiful.

Alexander McCall Smith writes a charming series of lady detective stories set in Botswana which grace my bookshelf. In his 7th book, Blue Shoes and Happiness, Smith writes, “Dancing is about contact between people…..When you dance with somebody you are talking to him even if you do not open your mouth. Your movements can show what is in your heart.”
I so understand what he is saying. When I recognize the One Who is the “Lord of my Dance” and allow Him to lead me, there is no need for talk. It’s as if we move as one in a prayerful communion, without uttering a word. If the desire of my heart is to truly follow Him and His lead wherever that might take me, He hears my heart---no words needed.

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19)

At our house we say, "It's the rule." Enough said!