Dancing, Sinatra and God

Last weekend, I went with about 75 others on my church's annual women's retreat.  The event took place at Sandy Cove in North East, MD - a beautiful retreat center with nicely appointed rooms, delicious, plentiful food and the waters of the Chesapeake Bay lapping on the shores of the grounds.  As an extra special gift, God provided absolutely perfect weather on Saturday...70+ degrees, with a light breeze and clear blue skies.  When I read in Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands!" the sunsets over the bay at Sandy Cove are often what comes to mind.

The theme of the weekend was "Shall We Dance" and our speaker was Catherine Martin of Quiet Time Ministries.  I love the illustration she paints of dancing with God...wrapped in His arms, surrendering to His embrace and following His lead in a vibrant, intimate, ongoing relationship (dance) with Him through this life...perhaps even more so because it is something I'm so not good at otherwise.  God has given me many creative gifts:  I write.  I sing.  I act.   But dancing?  Not so much.  I've lost several acting roles somewhere in the dance audition.  It's something I've always wanted to do but it doesn't come naturally and I've never taken lessons.  Well, except for that time a few years back when at the ripe old age of 46 I thought a 10 week tap course might help me score a role in 'Singin' In The Rain'.  It did not and for good reason, I admit.  Those poor tap shoes haven't seen the light of day since (that's me in the blue tee shirt staring intently at the instructors feet - to no avail!)

I love watching "Dancing with the Stars" and it should come as no surprise that I like to route for other underdogs.  Those who start out as awkward, clumsy, two left-footed ugly ducklings like me...but through weeks of practice and perseverance, become swans, capturing the nuances of the dance, and bringing the audience to their feet.  That's my dream.  But while I may never look graceful on an actual dance floor, with the right Partner, I can and will be swept into a beautiful, dynamic life dance that will have the angels jumping to their feet with applause when I arrive home.

Our Friday night session asked the question, "will you dance with Him?" and it was centered around Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well.  Saturday morning we were challenged with "will you sit at His feet?" and received fresh insight into the story of Mary and Martha and how to cultivate a heart of devotion. 

Saturday afternoon, we had 4 hours of free time to spend on any number of activities: a craft, Pilates, line dancing, playing games, shopping and more...but when God gives you the perfect day in the middle of March, there's only one thing to be done with it as far as I'm concerned.  I headed outside to revel in the day.  I walked the grounds with one friend, and chatted on the dock with another.  I even soaked up the sun with a good book for a bit. 

Session 3 was entitled "will you recognize Him?" and was based on the story of the prophetess Anna, who was on hand when Jesus was presented to Simeon in the temple.  I especially loved this session because it touched upon truths that I have learned and lived first hand.  Like the truth that God is the God of detail and that He loves to surprise you.  He knows your life and your needs intimately - even down to the smallest detail - nothing is too unimportant to bring to God.  Perhaps one day I'll share in another blog post a very special story of when that happened to me in a big way ...but if you want to read it sooner, it's in a book by Carol Kent called "Miracle on Hope Hill and Other Stories of God's Love" - page 55 to be exact.  Come to think of it, the story came to be in that book because of a visit to Sandy Cove about 2 years ago.  Just one of the exciting spins on this dance floor of life with God.

One of the biggest takeaways for me on Saturday night were these statements that Catherine shared:  In experiencing your romance with Jesus, you should linger excessively, listen eagerly, look expectantly and love extravagantly.  Again this resonated deeply with me.  I love to spend time not only reading God's Word and praying, but in spending quality time in His creation, appreciating with all my senses this world He's given us.  It is in these special moments with God that I love to linger...listening for His voice - in the sounds of the birds, in the whisper of the breeze, through the music of the water lapping on the shore. Looking expectantly at snapshots of His glory, waiting for the day of His return.  And I thank Him for his extravagant love - returning it to the best of my limited ability with songs of praise.

The final session on Sunday morning posed this question..."will you remember that the best is yet to come?" and described Mary Magdalene's joy as she encountered her risen Lord at the tomb.  It's certainly not a 'spiritual' song, but as I listened to Catherine talk about 'the best is yet to come' I couldn't get the tune of the Frank Sinatra song by the same name out of my head.  It ends this way:  "Wait til you're locked in my embrace, wait til I hold you near.  Wait til you see that sunshine place, there ain't nothing like it here.  The best is yet to come and won't that be fine...the best is yet to come, come the day that you're mine." 

Are you ready to be locked in His embrace?  Don't you want Him to hold you near?  The best is certainly yet to come, but let's dance with Him while we're here.