"A Time To Mourn and A Time To Dance"

 "Jesus came to sing a dirge and say: "Cry with Me." Jesus came to play a pipe and say: "Dance with Me." There is a secret place in us where the Spirit brings new life. There is a creche where the Child is born in you. There is the broken soil of your soul where the seeds of grace can grow in you. The Spirit of God within us says, " There is a time to mourn and a time to dance. The Spirit of healing that makes us mourn is the same Spirit that makes us dance.  The mystery of the dance is that its movements are discovered in the mourning.
A TIME TO MOURN

Mourn, my people, mourn. Let your pain rise up in your heart and burst forth in you with sobs and cries. Mourn for the silence that exists between you and your spouse. Mourn for the way you were robbed of innocence.  Mourn for the absence of a soft embrace, an intimate friendship, a life-giving sexuality. Mourn for the bitterness of your children , the indifference of your friends, and the hardness of heart of your colleagues. Mourn for those whose hunger for love brought them AIDS, whose desire for freedom brought them to refugee camps, whose hunger for justice brought them to prisons. Cry for the millions who die from lack of food, lack of care, lack of love...Cry for salvation for redemption.  Cry loudly and deeply, and trust that your tears will make your eyes see that the Kingdom is close at hand--yes, at your fingertips!

A TIME TO DANCE

To heal is to let the Spirit call us to dance.  Can you feel the freedom that rises up in you when you have been stripped naked and have nothing to inhibit your movements anymore? You can dance as David danced in front of the Ark. Can you notice in your innermost being the joy of living that comes from having nothing left to lose? Can you see the soft, beautiful smile that appears in the tearful eyes of your mourning friend? Jesus enters into our sadness, takes us by the hand, pulls us gently up to where we can stand, and invites us to dance. And we dance, we realize that we don't have to stand on the little spot of our grief but can step beyond it into unknown spaces and territory, until we know the entire world is our dance floor! Yes! Leave--leave your father , mother, brother sister, friend; leave your nets--and you will have many fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends; all the world will be yours and you will catch people wherever you dance. "

 (The Above is a writing  from Spiritual Formation by Henri Nouwen p.54-55)
May 2018 marks 6 years of stepping in to the mourning and dancing of God's heart for the Youth of Portage la Prairie. I am so thankful for the grace given to keep dancing in unhindered, 'no brace' freedom.  It's what we were created for!  Check out this beautiful video below that pictures this so well.  Thanks for reading about the dance these last years...He's not finished showing me the steps yet :)



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