Dancing

It has been a summer of sadness.  I have faced my children, my family, my friends and my self with eyes that have seen such pain and disappointment.  And yet I have been blessed to see a resiliency that can only come from God.  This is not to say that the sadness has been erased.  To the contrary, it returns in waves ~ sometimes overwhelming waves.  And yet at every turn I have seen those I love turn to God.  I am in awe of their deep faith and yet I am not surprised by it because for them God is real.  God is a member of their family.  God is someone you can be angry with, someone you can yell at and fight with but still love.  This relationship is only possible because these remarkable people were open to it.  Is it easy?  Is any real, loving relationship easy?  No!  it's hard, it takes work, it takes patience, it takes trust.  It takes the kind of trust that leads us to understand what Henri Nouwen meant when he talked about "the Dance"

"For in our suffering, not apart from it, Jesus enters our sadness, takes us by the hand, pulls us gently up to stand, and invites us to dance . . . because at the center of our grief we find the grace of God." (Turn My Mourning into Dancing by Henri Nouwen)

My children dance, my family dances, my friends dance and I dance and the dance leaves us forever changed. 

Join me in the mornings.