You already know that I feel like dancing is an amazing metaphor for the Christian journey. I absolutely love the thought of moving in response to Christ, not like a farmer whipping his donkey, but like a dancer following her leader.
So, I’ve been watching Dancing with the Stars. Each week we get a little snippet of the rehearsal room before the couple takes the floor. This is sometimes my favorite part of the show. You can see the fighting, jokes, tumbles and celebration of the couple as they make progress toward the final product with fancy dresses and bright lights. And this week it struck me. This is so much like my own personal relationship with God.
I see the clips of the rehearsal room as my personal devotional life. Just me and my partner hashing out the steps, practicing them over and over, finding ways of expressing the joy of the dance that I can relate to. Even the arguments and jokes! I have both of those things in my relationship with Jesus. It is so much the same.
And then comes the performance. I look at this as my public life with Christ - living my faith in the world and my relationship to the church. Although I don’t do what I do for the approval of judges, or the applause of the crowd, I still have to be really sensitive to the fact that people see me and they make judgments about my teacher, based on how I dance.
If we don’t spend time in the rehearsal room, performance night is terrifying! If I don’t spend time clinging to my partner, experimenting with the steps and building the trust there is no way the dance will ever become effortless or beautiful.
This is one of my favorite topics in considering the Dance of Devotion. What happens in the rehearsal room? What does Jesus want it to look like to partner with me every day? What would it be like to step onto the floor with a partner you haven’t practiced with? It really makes you think twice about “devotions”. Maybe it’s not so much about crossing something off my to-do list, and more about learning to be so in touch with my partner that we know what to do even when things get a little off-beat or out-of-step. When the partnership is good, you can recover in beautiful ways and win the hearts of those watching you dance.
