"Life may not be the party we hoped for ... but while we are here we might as well dance.” Now that’s just about the best advice I’ve heard in a long time but having said that, it’s not always that easy.
For most of my life I’ve been controlled by schedules, “to do” lists and an overwhelming sense of my responsibilities to everyone else but myself. Over these past several years I’ve been forced to take more time to rest, to take better care of myself and worst of all, to retire from some of my much-loved volunteer positions.
Best of all, though, I’m having to learn how to lean more heavily on my faith and also to figure out more complicated crossword puzzles. Work-life balance had become a matter of health as well as enjoyment and though it’s not been easy to step back and relax (my daughter-in-law has forbidden me to ever again use the expression, “I’m being lazy”), I sense the elements of dance hidden in the quiet.
I know I’ve written this before but it’s worth repeating: one of the most delightful parts of my mornings now is riding the early morning bus to town, spending energy walking and then of rewarding myself by walking to my favourite place for tea. Becoming detached from a keyboard and telephone definitely has honed my dancing skills.
I suspect that more than one of you, my readers, can relate to the frenzy I describe. In the chaos of too much information, we forget what’s important; in the tumult of having too much to do, we can lose sight of what’s happening to our soul. The unnamed writer of this Psalm summed it all up in his exhortation to us.
“Let the children of Zion … praise His name with the dance.” (Psalm 149:3)
Shall we dance?
