A Song and Dance

There's a painting that hangs over my bed that my dear friend Bethany made me. It's one of my favorite Scriptures and it's beautiful and it's truth and I see it more times than I can count.

I waited patiently for the LORD, He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Psalm 40.

This passage has a repetition in my life, a significance, that raised me from the dead. This I, this author, is familiarly me. Our Father hears His children's cries and draws us up, gives us steady ground and leads us on a path everlasting. It changes everything. We are invited in to sing praise in every moment, in every action, in every word.

I like to see new creation and journey as a song. Donald Miller asks the question at the end of Blue Like Jazz, "but what song will you sing when your soul gets set free?" Sometimes the beat crashes, sometimes it skips, sometimes it's off key. Is it faithful?

My friend Marri sees it as a dance. Sometimes a punch dance, sometimes a silent rave, sometimes a lyrical ballet. It's awkward and messy and not fluid at times. But she writes, "looking back over this story, my journey, I see the sneaky ways He was working. I see landmarks along the way, I see a collection of small and deliberate emancipations. And now I'm free to dance in wild, barefoot delight, improvising with beauty I discover and always, always listening for His rhythm, music and meaning."

Free to dance in His rhythm.

I think about what it means to be always listening for His rhythm, music, meaning. I think about what it means to sing His new song. I think about the writer of Romans who says, "when I want to do good, evil is right there with me." Then I think about a God who loves us fiercely, who makes us more real because we are so loved so much. This Love changes people (it really changes them!) and God's goodness is radiated. Because we give away what we are filled with.

Grace is beautiful and we are loved even more than we could ever imagine. Which is good, because we are worse than we think. But it is this grace that clothes us, this grace that died for us, this grace that uses us, this grace that sings a beautiful song and moves beautiful feet.

From the moment His love changes your life, as Real calls out to Real, you can't be ugly, you can't be a cheater, you can't be unforgiven, you can't be too far from Grace.