Dance

When I went off to a large Baptist university in the early 70s, dancing was not allowed on campus. Somewhere it was a Baptist thing that dancing was not good, so there were no dances on campus. That took another 20 years or so to change, but it finally did change. Dancing is good exercise and can be beautiful to watch. Think ballet or even the professional dancers on a particular television show.

I didn’t dance very well until I began to practice martial arts. That process taught me to move with grace and balance. I am very proud of the compliments I have gotten when people watch me do martial arts or do them with me. I teach a martial art, the founder of which loves to dance and shows how those movements are natural and powerful.

Richard Rohr, the Franciscan priest and author wrote a book called The Divine Dance. The book is a wonderful look at the interaction of the Christian Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That by itself makes it a good book to read, but it directs us to so much more. This Divine dance is going on all around us, all of the earth is in a dance with its Creator!

I don’t care whether you think you can dance or not, I want you to know this: the Creator of All wants to dance with you. It is an intimate dance and God is always a willing partner. Stop being shy or self conscious, your Partner could care less about that. Thomas Merton once said, “dance you tepid idiot”! I think I know what he meant now. We all have the ultimate dance partner, why be shy? No matter how many times you might step on God’s toes, just keep dancing. It is Sacred after all.

TMM