I Will ALWAYS Dance!

I wrote this during a very difficult time in my Christian walk....

This blog may make sense to only my church family and the ordeal that we are going through at this time. However, I think that there will be a hint of wisdom (not mine by God's) in my words that others will relate to, at least that is my prayer.

After visiting with my mother and sister tonight, as I was driving home from Clarksville to Erin, I was fiddling with the radio trying to find something pleasant and relaxing to listen to on that long stretch of road. I readily admit that I am not the biggest fan of country music, but I do like one song in particular that Garth Brooks sings, "The Dance." As I drove and I thought yet again for what seems the millionth time about the situation our poor church is going through, the song came on. I listened closely to the words and felt this love spring up in me anew.

"Looking back on the memory of the dance we shared beneath the stars above, for a moment all the world was right...." it goes on a few more lines and then my favorite part of the song is...."I could have missed the pain but I'd have had to miss the dance."

Looking back on this whole harsh experience, it has reopened old wounds that I thought were healed. It has taken me back to another time when I thought that all was right in the world. Being transported back in time when you have been mistreated or been shut out of the "inner sanctum"....stirs emotions within one, and if not very careful, could close one's heart to the ONLY ONE that truly came up with Open Hearts, Open Minds and Open Doors, the slogan of the Methodist Church.

Coming to Erin United Methodist Church restored my faith in people. I have bonded with and felt a deep connection with my family here. They wrote the book on how to make others feel welcome when you walk through that door. Long ago, I could have written off the church and been on my merry way. However, as Garth sings, I could have missed the pain, but I would have missed the dance. Every Sunday that I walk into our precious church, the dance begins. My dance card is never empty. Before I ever leave the parsonage, God is the first to sign up and HE carries me through each dance with each individual partner.

Over time, God has given me a new song in my heart and it gives me joy. It is like my fiddling with that radio and finally, that perfect song comes on that speaks to you and makes you want to tap your foot and pat your hand to the beat on the steering wheel. You do the seatbelt samba!
As I mentioned, at the beginning of all of this, there was pain that was unfortunately renewed...but, it did not last long. "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." (Psalm 30:11)

We are all going to go through trials and we may lose our rhythm and not hear the song as clearly as before...but in Jeremiah 31:4 we are told "I will build you up again, and you will be rebuilt....Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful." God is faithful and will never leave us in our pain or suffering.

"...a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." (Ecc. 3:4)

God is asking, "May I have this dance?"