The Next Step

JUST TAKE THE NEXT STEP 

The music keys up in the background. I don’t look at the ensemble or the audience. I don’t dance for them. I dance because it is part of me, it is a gift that I have been given and to be still is to be shackled to that which has no meaning.

This I was created for, and while this particular production may inspire others, as it was designed to – my very steps are ordered, purposed. Each one has meaning, not alone but as part of a series. I cannot skip to the fun parts, the ones more exhilarating because each build upon the last.

Long before I launch into the air, there are spins, pirouettes and a readying of another whose role is to catch me. It is a surrender of sorts. I lose myself and just dance, the music builds and my ear finds its instruction for the next step. The leap is around the bend but for this moment, I must listen and move.

The world continues to spin but I maintain my focus on the One who called me to this. There’s a pause and I continue in what I know until the melody signals a change. My heart, like my ear, is attuned to follow the lead of something or some One greater than myself.  

Life is always a series of steps, and surrender lies all along the way. We know that as long as we listen for the melody of Christ’s heart and lead, an unfathomable harmony and peace follows. There are times where it may feel as if we are launched out into thin air, like a trapeze artist who gracefully swings about high above. It seems precarious and no safety net lies below.

‘What ifs’ pepper thoughts of onlookers.  There was a back story choreographed in the dark, beyond sight. Practicing brought the precision. Much devotion prompted this one before them to move out into the unknown. The call to press on, endure past the pain and simply dance is at the heart. There were twists, falls, bruises, doubts and even tears all along the way. Training encompasses stretching, growing, bending, even in the everyday.

I am encouraged and I pass that on to you. Get back up and dance. The beauty that lies ahead, one cannot even fathom for God initiated the melody.