Jimbo's Jots

Over the past several weeks, I have had conversations about dancing with people. Most recently, I discovered there is a thing called, Silent Dance Party. As I understand it, you wear headphones that a DJ provides. The DJ plays music through the headphones and you dance along with everyone else. Go ahead look it up on YouTube. I’m sure you’ll find something there.

When my wife and I went on our cruise, we had a day at sea which means any activity you wish to participate in was on the boat. One of the activities was Samba dance lessons. We didn’t actually sign up for the class, but took advantage of watching from a distance and trying to hear what the instructor said. We tried and gave it a valiant effort. In most cases, we choose not to dance because we both agree there are lead issues.

Dancing is about finding the rhythm of the music and trying to step to the beat. Sometimes, it is a single person dancing on a stage. Sometimes it’s two people on a stage or a dance floor. And some of our favorite scenes in movies are the scenes where the cast all are in unison wowing the audience with their tremendous skills.

Dancing is also about understanding the emphasis of the down beat, meaning the first beat. All of the other beats are important, but usually, as I understand it, in order to dance the first beat is vital to help the dance flow. For example, think of a waltz. A waltz has three beats . . . 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3. To dance a waltz properly, the emphasis is on the 1 and the 2 3 follow.

Life is like a dance. There have been songs recorded by Garth Brooks and LeeAnn Womack encouraging us to dance in life. So if dancing is about finding the rhythm, then life is about finding the rhythm. It is finding the down beat and trying to find the right steps to that you feel like you’re in step with everyone else.

I was talking with a couple recently about this topic. I heard each of them talk about their life and their relationship, using the dance analogy. After a few moments of them talking, I chimed in with this, “Here is what I see and hear. Using the dance analogy, it’s like you both are dancing, but one is thinking salsa and the other is thinking cha cha. The thing is you’re supposed to be learning the foxtrot.” I was trying to get them to get in step with each other.

As we experience life as a dance, we learn to find our rhythm. We learn the steps that will demonstrate proper form. But the last component of the dance is the emotion. As we dance through life, we may dance the proper steps but if there is no heart, then our dance is pointless. Allow me the liberty to paraphrase the Apostle Paul from 1 Corinthians 13. “If I learn all of the right steps, and I can feel the beat of the music from my head to my toe, and I can dance with my partner all over the floor, but have not love behind the dance, then I have become just a puppet on a string.”

So dance the dance of life! Invite others to dance with you along the way! Find the rhythm of your soul!