I hope you dance this Christmas
I recall a scene in my teens when I was walking in our farm pasture surrounded by fog. Spring run-off waters were rippling all around me as I waded through the shallow water in my boots. Time stood still. I was at sea in my life, completely enveloped in the fog. My mind was enjoying the beauty and the peace.
Recently I had a moment of adoration before the blessed sacrament. I arrived late to the planned worship, but had the clarity of mind to know that when you are in God’s presence, you can step outside time. God can touch you in that place and you can touch God. Time stops.
We have moments in our lives when we might seem alone in the immensity of nature and aware of the Divine forces. Treasure the moment and know you are not alone. Let your self-conscious reality become a God-conscious experience.
I am here. I am alive. God is here. Now I can either fear or I can dance.
In Lee Ann Womack’s song “I Hope You Dance” we pick up the theme of wonder, of not taking a single breath for granted. We may feel small standing beside the ocean, but she sings, “I hope you never lose your sense of wonder…May you never take one single breath for granted / God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed.”
I expand that challenge to being in the presence of love itself, God. We stand beside the immensity of creation, like the ocean or the vast prairie. That is when we can give faith a chance. We can choose to dance with the God who longs for us.
Womack’s song says,
When you stand beside the ocean
…
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
We can seek those moments of grace. God is not far from us. Daily encounters with God can enrich our lives in our homes, at work or in that sunrise or sunset. Heaven forbid we leave life’s encounters with God empty-handed.
In Luke 10:21 Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.”
As a teenager in my family’s farm pasture, I was not ready to dance at God’s immensity. We can rejoice at the Holy Spirit’s gift in our lives. First comes Advent, then the birth of Jesus, then the sacrifice of Christ and our salvation, then the Church to lead us to all the other truths we profess in the Apostle’s Creed.
The operand word is hope! Advent is a time of hope.
In “Gracefully Woven” Elizabeth Spenner asks us to imagine coming face to face with God who asks, “Who are you?”
You answer, “I am a wife, a mother, a teacher, a writer, a worker…” And when you look up God’s eyes are filled with tears.
“I fear you missed the point,” he says. “Let me remind you:
You are loved! (John 3:16); You are chosen! (1 Peter 2:9); You are forgiven! (1 John 1:9); You are My child! (Galatians 4:7); You are wonderfully made!” (Psalm 139:13).
Hope returns to you. Your heart is his once again.” When our time on earth ends and when we stand before God, and He asks, "Who are you, my child?" we can joyfully respond, “I am Yours!”
(595 words)
