Sisterhood is tonight?!? I can’t wait! It’s my favorite night of the month!!! I was day-dreaming about the theme for this year, Rhythms of Grace…. It just sounds soothing, peaceful, inviting. I imagine myself lying on the beach, warm in the sand, sun kissing my face, and the even rhythm of waves hitting the shore as the only thing keeping time. I try to hang out there, in that dream, as long as I can because it is SO much harder to find a rhythm of grace when the kitchen’s whole house is a mess, kids are screaming, work is calling, and I’m STILL in my pajamas at 2:30 in the afternoon.
I looked up the definition of rhythm and grace, when I put them together I got ‘a strong, regular, repeated pattern of the free and unmerited favor of God’. Sure, it might be easier to feel that favor while lying on a sun soaked beach, but it is no less present in any other circumstance. So how do we find that rhythm, and keep dancing to the song that God’s created for us, rather than always running a step or two behind the beat of someone else’s? Give up the need to lead the dance, and simply follow in His arms.
Doesn’t that sound incredible, God, twirling His daughter around on the floor, enabling us to look elegant, poised, and graceful all at the guiding of His hand? Well, if you’re anything like me, you’ve got two left feet and a death grip on the desire to lead the dance. God and I have a regular laugh over this, because being the lovely bride of Christ that I am, I remind Him that in Genesis 3:16, He cursed me with this desire to control, “you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” He never fails to respond with the reminder from 2 Corinth 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, she is a new creation, the old has passed away.” We have a little laugh and go right back to our dance, until the next time I step on His toe or miss a step…. That’s our dance, a playful banter reminiscent of a true husband and wife passionately in love, and there is a rhythm to that which I find comfort in.
Finding your unique rhythm, can sometimes be more challenging than staying with it. Imagine the awkward high school dance… girls on one side of the room, guys on the other. The fear of rejection, looking like a fool, and so many others, holding everyone back and keeping them from enjoying the party! Looking for God, and even more His favor, during the trials of our life and the difficult seasons we face, can be exhausting. It is in those times, that the people God surrounds us with are His greatest gifts, as they provide fresh perspective with which we can view our situations. Our friends are the ones that remind us we’re worthy to dance, whether anyone else in this world notices or not. The world will always tempt us to focus on what we don’t have; too little time, not enough money, not the right job, our health might not be there, the family we’d hoped for might not be complete, the list can go on forever. However, when we choose to focus on the things we DO have, the gifts and favor that God extends to each of us; salvation, a love like NO other, peace, joy, security in Him, the job we DO have, the family and friends He has blessed us with, etc… THEN…. When we see all that, then we can choose to dance!
“Finally sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things” Phil 4:8
And then…. Dance! 