I Hope You Dance!

My friend Kathleen sent me this, thought it was beautiful...

Dancing With God
When I meditated on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing 'dance' at the end of the word.
I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn't flow with the music,
And everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,
Both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back
Or by pressing lightly in one direction or another;
It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.

The dance takes surrender, willingness,
attentiveness from one person (me);
And gentle guidance and skill from the other (God)

My eyes drew back to the word G U I DANCE.
When I saw 'G': I thought of God, followed by 'U' and 'I.
'God, 'U' and 'I dance.' God, you, and I dance!
As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust Him to lead.

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I was reading Psalm 30 when Kathleen sent this to me. I was thinking about how God sings over us and invites us to dance with Him. He is a gentleman He does not force us to dance. He called to me; held out His Nail-piereced Hands many times before I accepted His invitation. My only regret has been that I did not say 'yes' sooner. Choosing to wait for His Guidance, to follow as He leads, has been the best decision of my life.

Psalm 30:11
You turned my wailing into DANCING;
You removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with JOY
that my heart may SING to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I give you THANKS forever.

If you get the choice (and we all do!) to sit it out or dance, I Hope You Dance!

No Fear

Fear of the known;
Fear of the UN-known;
Fear of the future, what looms ahead?
Fear of the past, what's behind, but perhaps catching up to us?
Fear that propels us into action, forward momentum;
Fear that keeps us stuck, in quicksand, immobilized;
Real Fears, Imagined Fears, Persistent Phobias;
There’s nothing to Fear but Fear itself…oh really?
Slogans you hear; T-shirts you see that shout “NO FEAR”
Tattoos and piercings that silently whisper “Hey you, be very afraid of me”
Fear of so many unfinished things, loose ends that we must tie up,
today, now, get to it immediately, hurry up, RUN, faster, faster...
Fear of falling behind and not having the strength to get back up.

This a working woman's fear: Not enough time to do it all well.
Lord, help us let go of our desire to do everything perfectly.

Oh, we may get it all done, little red checkmarks, done, done, done;
but at what expense to our physical, emotional, mental health,
not to mention.... JOY.....DO YOU REMEMBER JOY?
Remember what it felt like the first day of spring break?
Remember when ice cream didn't add extra chins?
Remember when new freckles were cute, not cancerous?
Remember relaxing, resting, resisting the urge to do; and just living?

FEAR STEALS OUR JOY! Fear is a thief; a liar. When we run, crazy-busy, our joy evaporates. At first, it feels good to get lots of stuff done, but there has to be more to life than doing. When we loose touch with that child-like joyful state, how do we get it back?

THE OPPOSITE OF FEAR IS FAITH! We can re-anchor our hope in God's Reliable Word, instead of our unreliable feelings! Feelings put us an emotional roller coaster, God's Promises help to settle and restore us. What does God's Word say about FEAR?

2 Timothy 1:7 For God did NOT give us a spirit of FEAR.... but of Power, Love, and Self-discipline.

Lord, help me surrender this fear to You. I really don't want to carry this weight anymore. Help me to admit that I can't, but you can. All things through Christ who gives me strength!Help me to bring my problems, sorrows, worries, regrets and fears to the foot of The Cross and then Help me to leave them there, knowing that You are trustworthy and responsible for things that are just too big for me:

What we give over to God, He’s responsible for; What we choose to hold onto, we are responsible for.

When the truth of that statement grips you; you'll release fear as if it were a hot potato!