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There once was a king who was preparing for his son's wedding. So he went out to find guests to dance at the wedding feast. He sent letters to all the those who had trained in dance inviting them to his feast. He said, "Come dance before me, for my son is taking a bride." But on the day of the wedding no one showed up.
So the king went out and gathered all the lame, the blind, the deaf, the mute. He took men from the prisons and took slaves from their masters. He took the sick and the elderly and the young children. He took those who didn't know their right foot from their left foot. And he brought them all to the wedding feast and commanded them saying "Dance before me."
The people replied, "We would dance before you, but we are not able. The lame cannot stand, the blind know not the way, the deaf cannot hear the melody, the mute cannot sing. We are poor and sick and shackled by our infirmities. We cannot dance."
The king said again, "Dance before me, for my son is taking a bride today!"
The people cast down their heads for they could not please the king. Then the bride, clothed beautifully in white, came forth into the room. Joy overflowed through her smile. The children saw her and were capture by her joy. They got up and ran to dance with her. The lame stood up and danced. The mute sang. The downtrodden rejoiced.
The parents saw their children healed and the joy spread to them. The whole room erupted into dancing and singing. And when it was over, they realized that they too had been healed. They too had been made strong and given feet for dancing.
Every sickness and infirmity left those who rejoiced before the king. But those who refused to rejoice had their feet shackled so that they could not dance.
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Last year at camp when I first heard the song "Made for Dancing" I looked at my friend on crutches and realized how many there are out there that dance with their heart, but cannot dance with their feet. And I realized that one day all that will change. Every sickness will be healed--the lame will walk, the deaf will hear, the blind will see, and the mute will sing.
But there are also those who are whole who will not dance. Why did God give us feet? Why did He give us hands? Why did He give us breath? All Yahweh's children were made for dancing--to praise the Father with all our heart, all our talents, all our ability. God looks for the dance in our heart. He looks for a dance that is so strong that it begins to overflow out of us so that in every part of life we will praise Him--through our voices, through our dance, through our hands, through our instruments, through our creativity, through our work, through our play, through our friendships, through our family...everything.I sometimes see life as one big dance. We are all in the circle together--facing each other, facing our Father. We move together as one to the melody our King plays, but the dance comes from the heart. And though there are those who cannot dance physically yet...they can still praise Him with the abilities God has given them. Let everything that has breath praise Yahweh. Hallelujah!
About a year after writing the above, I attended an Air1 concert where these thoughts took on new meaning
as I learned about Cure. Cure is an organization dedicated to changing the
lives of children with curable disabilities through surgery and sharing God’s
love. They traveled around with the Air1 Club Awesome tour, raising money to help these children. As Brant Hansen said,
thanks to Cure, children who once struggled to walk are now able to dance.
If you’re
looking for someplace to give this holiday season, I would encourage you to
check out cure.org. To me, what they are doing is what the Kingdom is all about—giving
hope to those who have none. Finally, whether you celebrate Christmas or
Chanukah or whatever, I say Rejoice, for our Light has come and He has overcome
the darkness!
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