The Dance Begins

When I was 13 years old and wanted to enter a worship dance in a church talent competition, I was told by the church leaders that dancing was "not acceptable." I was forced to choose between my commitment to Christ and my passion for dance.

Today, decades later, I am privileged to see how God is using the arts to usher a culture that has rejected much of evangelical Christianity into the Holy of Holies. The arts, have the power to transcend our cultural and personal biases and prejudices and communicate the awe, the wonder, the majesty, the beauty of a Creator longing to be reunited with His creation.

This was written years ago, but may it encourage any of you who are struggling with the artists compulsion to create, to paint, to dance, to sing, to compose, to write...to not listen to the voices of discouragement, but rather, listen to the "still,small voice" within - the Creator calling His creation to create.

THE DANCE BEGINS

She has danced the dance
that sings of dying
that strips her strength
and leaves her crying

Alone, backstage
with her fears and doubts
she waits for music...
the silence shouts

its empty lies
of failure and doom
hope held prisoner
in a barren womb

The rope is wrapped
around her heart
too paralyzed to try
to dance her part

She cries a
silent symphony
behind the curtain
where no one can see

She tries to drown
the agony
by refusing to let
the dance run free

She sings a song of mediocrity
a boring mold
of monotony

Compromise is
her company -
murder,
in the first degree

But deep within
the depths of her
the dancers song
begins to stir

She struggles to
deny the song
But it floods inside
loud and strong

Suddenly,
the silence is shattered
by the music within
the curtains are opened;
the dance,
begins.