A Time To Dance

Today was very special.  It seemed like a pretty normal Sunday at Pickwick in the late Spring.  But somehow, for me, things are beginning to change.  You have probably sensed it in my postings of late.  Shelley described it as moving from mourning to healing.  I think she may be correct.  I pray so.
Not long ago I wrote about being able to remove my wedding ring.  I believe that was a watershed event in my life after Bonnie.  For some reason, it did signify the ability to move on.

A new friend of mine and I were e-mailing this past week.  We have both come through some difficult times in our lives.  One similarity I noted was that we both had a choice.  We could have turned away from God, saying that HE caused our pain, that He allowed it, that He was....well you get that picture.  Unfortunately, many people find that as their alternative.  They reject Him.

OR, we could have turned to Him, clung to Him, depended upon Him.  That was our chosen alternative.  I wrote that I believed we made God smile when we did that and that Satan frowned.  That is just fine with me.  This was not easy for either of us.  It is not the path of least resistance.  But it is the path that He chooses for us.  He will get us down it if we depend upon Him.

Our little Sunday School class is starting to study Ecclesiastes next Sunday.  As our teacher announced that, I turned to it in my bible and my eyes fell on Ecclesiastes 3:4 "a time to mourn and a time to dance,"  Next to it, in the margin, some time ago I'd written "Why in that order?".

I'll come back to the "why in that order" later, but I want to explain why this was so profound to me today.

I've not been able to even listen to music for 7 months.  It was just too painful.  I was driving some 700 miles to Sandusky Ohio last week.  As I drove I was, well, bored. Months before I'd removed all the CDs from Bonnie's little Jeep Patriot that I was driving.  But, being bored, I punched a few buttons.  The CD player came online.  There was a CD left in it!!!  And, the CD was a compilation of songs Shelley and Ben had used at their wedding reception.  The song that played was the one I'd chosen for Shelley and me to dance to...."I hope you dance". 

I remember hearing it months before and turning off.  It was too painful to listen to.  That day, last week however, because of some recent events, including my ability to remove my wedding band, I was able to listen to the words of that song.  They are beautiful and moving.  Every verse is.  Bonnie and I lived our lives that way.  We prayed that Shelley could/would also.  Now, I was being challenged to do so again.   For the past seven months I'd experienced the exact opposite of everything the song had hoped for.

Now, however,  I'm beginning to feel the ability - or at least the desire - to "dance" again.

The song.  The verses.  Events.  God.  That is why we should never turn away from Him when we are experiencing the difficult times of this world.  Cling to Him.  Lean on Him.  Keep your eyes on Him. 

There is a time for mourning. We will all experience it sooner or later.  But, there is a time to dance as well.  Perhaps, no definitely, Ecclesiastes has it in the right order.  A time to mourn comes before a time to dance.  In that order the dance is far more meaningful.  It is a dance given to you by our Lord Himself. 

I am looking forward to once again dancing.  I do not know what form the dance will be.  But, I am convinced now that there is a dance for me.

Ecclesiastes says that there is.  It comes after a time for mourning.