Why did you come to this blog today? What kinds of emotions swirled through your mind as you connected to this site, scrolled through your bookmarks, slid into this file? Did you have any particular expectations for this reflection or did you come here looking for some special image that might brighten your day? Maybe you came here out of habit, perhaps a habit fueled by a genuine faith. Or maybe you had to drag yourself here. Maybe you felt inwardly crabby as you pulled yourself out of bed and logged on to find the weather and mistakenly clicked onto this blog. You didn't get near enough sleep last night, and the kids drive you clean up a wall as you try your best to get them dressed and out the door on time for school. Maybe you came here feeling sad, maybe joyful. Maybe you came bearing a lot of guilt on the inside, maybe you came here hanging on to lots of fear if its OK to come to pray here, or maybe without having given much thought one way or the other as to what shape your life has been in lately.
But did you come expecting anything? C.S. Lewis once penned some thoughts on worship, he was uncomfortable with the notion that every worship service needed to be a kind of variety show. Worship or praying, Lewis wrote, should be a bit like dancing. Once you have learned how to dance and have become good at it, you are able to immerse yourself in the dance and just do it almost without thinking about it. But if you must constantly look down at your feet, if you have to think about each movement before you actually make it, then you can't dance yet but are just learning how to dance.
I like to believe that coming to this blog is like a dance that you are so good at you can just do it freely and flowingly, but we dare never forget who our dance partner is! Anyway we chose to pray, whether in our church, or on our knees at night, with a rosary or bible in our hand or seated at our computer reflecting on this Sonshine, Jesus is here and it makes all the difference for the rest of our day.
We believe that we meet Jesus here every time we click to this blog. Whether at font and table, in prayer, music, and the Word, we believe we are getting caught up in the dance of life and hope and joy and what's more, we are dancing with no less than the Lord of Life.
Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “Then young women will dance and be glad, young man and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.” (Jeremiah 31:12-14).
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who love to dance and look to you as our partner who leads us to safety and joy. May we hop and skip like kids again and feel the happiness in our hearts that we are in the hands of wonderful God who has chosen us to be his beloved for all eternity.
