Relax and Dance

The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.  Ex 14:14

This is one of my favorite verses.  I find it so comforting.  Keeping still is not my strong point.  Today it brought to mind two situations to help me to bring it into focus for myself.

The first is trying to get a 1 or 2 year old child dressed.  They have done this enough times that they know that they are supposed to put their hand in the hole in the shirt.  But they are not experienced enough yet to realize that they need to find the hole first before they go jabbing their hand in random parts of the shirt that are not sleeves.  Baby starts getting frustrated, I start getting frustrated.  If she would just be still and stop trying to help so much, then I could show her where the hole is and let baby push her own hand through, but she is so sure that this is where her hand goes she just pushes all the harder when I try to move her hand to the right place.

I know there are times when God is trying to get the attention of my bulldozer self and I am so sure that this is the direction I am supposed to be going to help Him.  If I could just take the time to be still, He could reorient me just a bit and I could get on the right track.

The second situation is a little different.  The other day our oldest daughter, who works in a restaurant/bar, was telling us about Salsa Night at her work.  She has seen some amazing Salsa Dancing on these nights.  She doesn't know how to do the dances, but will occasionally dance with one of the more skilled dancers.  She told us how the really good dancers can lead so well that she doesn't even have to know much about the dance herself.  During one dance she told one, "You make me feel like a pro at this, like I really know what I am doing!"  He told her that it was because she was so relaxed and was good at taking his cues and following.

Being a limp noodle wouldn't help her to dance like that, she had to be relaxed but responsive.  She had to wait for his cues and act on them immediately and without thought.  That is what makes the dance.

If I could be so close to God that I feel His slightest cues...

If I could be relaxed, yet ready to respond without hesitation...

Then maybe this relationship with Him, this life He has given me, would be more like a dance and less like me fighting Him at every turn. Trying to get Him to understand what I think His will should be is a lot more work than being tuned into His will, and a lot more like a toddler insisting that the sleeve should be right in the middle of the shirt.