Some people cherish fond memories of high school dances, but not me. Somehow, no matter how hard I tried, my efforts at dancing were invariably clumsy — and my partners didn’t hesitate to point this out.
The dance started out fine with the boy gently propelling us along. Then, suddenly I’d find myself taking over, which led to a silent struggle between us, as we headed in different directions. In the Bible we read about the gnashing of teeth, but in this case, there was the clashing of feet.
I also had trouble following the beat, and when I tensed up, there was the predictable suggestion: “Just relax!” If you’ve ever heard a nurse utter these words before jabbing you with a needle, you know it’s not easy.
The struggles of dancing remind me of my relationship with God. So often, I tell God my needs — and then, instead of relaxing and letting him handle things, I sneak behind the scenes and start micromanaging the situation.
Waiting on God isn’t easy, because adults are accustomed to controlling events. The prophet Isaiah said, “A little child shall lead them” and later Christ said, “Unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We aren’t expected to babble like babies or have tantrums like toddlers. Instead, it seems our relationship with God improves, when we are like a child who trusts her parents completely. She expects protection, nurturing, guidance and love — and she puts her life in their hands.
When we ask our heavenly father for something, the key is believing he’s heard our request. This doesn’t mean he will give us exactly what we want, since a good parent is judicious about saying “yes.” Some prayers are answered differently than we expected — and sometimes we wait a long time to see results.
I once worked in an office with a manager who’d assign tasks, but then, instead of letting us complete them, she’d check our progress every hour or so. Such micromanaging can also apply to our relationship with God, when we turn a problem over to him, but continue fretting about it.
In dancing, one partner must surrender control to the other to avoid stumbling. In praying, we must give our hearts to God, believing he knows our wants and needs. We have to become like a toddler who leaps into the pool, confident his dad will catch him.
In a wonderful book “God Will Provide,” Patricia Treece writes about people who were down to their last dollar, loaf of bread or shred of hope, but when they surrendered to God in childlike trust, their needs were met.
She writes, “God wants your surrender to his loving leadership so he can free you from all those ideas, habits and situations that imprison you, including your terror of losing control.”
Learning to trust God more doesn’t happen overnight, but little by little, over time. We can start with small things and then gradually our confidence will cover the big issues too. Letting him lead in the dance of life means relaxing in his arms and knowing he’ll take us in exactly the right direction.
Lorraine’s email address is lorrainevmurray@yahoo.com.
