Life sometimes seems like a riddle we are trying to solve, it often seems like a confusing question posed by the universe to keep us scratching our heads for the duration of our lives. Often people come forward with an answer to the riddle, a short word or insightful idea about how it all came about. Or, sometimes people dare to ask why, and then put forth reasons as to why it all is as it is. Well recently I have begun to think life isn’t so much set up to be addressed as a riddle we can solve, or even a set of ideas explaining justification for why we should be here. Instead, I have started to think life is more like a poem, or a dance that we have found ourselves in.
We aren’t dancing this one solo either; instead our partner is the one who created the dance, the one who spoke the poem into existence. Donald Miller puts it well when he writes, “Life is a dance toward God. And the dance is not as graceful as we might want. While we glide and swing our practiced sway, God crowds our feet, bumps our toes, and scuffs our shoes. So we learn to dance with the One who made us. And it is a difficult dance to learn, because the steps are foreign.” I enjoy Miller’s writing because he has a poetic mind, which I believe enables him to experience and describe aspects of God that we have almost lost in our world of 3-step programs, pragmatics, and materialism.
In our journey through life as we cling to a planet falling through an immense vacuum of next to nothingness it seems ridiculous for us to place any importance on gaining personal accolades and accumulating material possessions. Maybe that is why Jesus seemed to say almost frivolously “sell all your possessions, and give them to the poor.” But we’re still often left with the question of why, why if life really is a poem spoken by the universe’s most beautiful poet do the characters spend so much time focusing on pointless crap? Should we not be spending our lives chasing summer’s fireflies, winter’s sunsets, and kingdoms of night ruled by moonrises? Well just like Miller points out, so much of what we are seeking is the sensation of the true story. We all too often would just prefer to read the back of the book instead of opening to the first chapter. So how do we reimagine our lives as the stories that they really are?
I believe we have to wipe off our reading glasses and maybe reread a few pages. We (including me) need to look back to the poet, and think about how he intended the words to be read, and maybe through doing so we will once again know true beauty. We may stand on the cusp of the desert and whisper sonnets into the breeze. We may no longer dread the sunrise, but instead stand in awe as God paints a metaphor of Himself, one ribbon at a time. We may just fall in love with our dance partner, and dance a new dance that will have the whole world watching.
Thank you so much for reading, and as always feel free to leave a comment. Also, I am $2,500 dollars away from being FULLY FUNDED! If you would like to help me continue my journey on The World Race you can do so by clicking on the “support me” link on the left side of the page. Or, you can contact me directly by email if you would like. Prayers are also always appreciated. Thanks again.
Garrett
