Lessons From Swing Dancing

The first Friday evening of December, I found myself agreeing to accompany a friend of mine to a swing dance class.

Whats odd about this is I have never been swing dancing before and step-specific dances are NOT my strong suit. Luckily they had an intro class at the start and I learned the basics: right leg step, left leg step, quick shuffle back step (repeat). Then we were taught to do an outside turn which looked so simple and elegant from the experienced people in the class. But I had a hard time getting the foot work down and ending up on the correct foot to continue the basic step in time with the music and my partner.

Since this was a social dance and social event we switched partners often to get experience with all kinds of people from beginners (like me) to people who have been swing dancing for years. I got partnered with someone who had seen me struggling with the turns. He slowed down and started with the basics. His largest piece of advice was to let him lead. Simple, huh?! I didn’t need to think about the steps if I just waited for his physical cues for when to turn or to stay in the basic step.

In the few minutes we had as partners, I was able to master (using that term VERY loosely) the outside turn. I also learned a life lesson about God (cause He uses everything to teach us and bring glory to His name). I learned that if we let God lead us, then we can relax and just dance. I can get out of my head and stop worrying about each step and just have fun moving. 

Another partner that was also experienced showed me that I have to have some form in my body so that he would have a way to lead me. I couldn’t continue to be limp in my hands and arms cause it made it hard from him to lead well with the subtle cues. I equate this to being active in our faith. To doing something with God instead of being a limp, inactive member of His (capital C) Church. We often pine away to discover what God’s will is in our life (and I myself have used this language for years now), but I am finding out that we just have to dance, to get out there and MOVE. It wont be perfect, we will mis-step and we will mess up, and maybe step on a few toes (thankfully I didn’t do that in this class). He just wants us to get out on the dance floor and not live limp and comfortable on the side lines. He wants us to experience His fullness!

My favorite part of the class toward the end was to watch the experienced people do what they love to do. They had such precision of the basics and a pizzaz and flair for making it fun, fancy and gorgeous to watch. God will teach us the basics, but then He gives us freedom to live life, to make the dance our own. We can have so much fun if we just relax and let Him prompt when to turn to the outside, when to loosely dance freeform or when to draw in closer and focus on the basics. Once we dance with God we learn Him intimately, we become seasoned dancers along side of Him. We can trust Him as our lead.

So get off the sidelines of your life, God is waiting for you to accept His invitation to be led and have the time of your life! Say YES to dancing and trusting God’s lead, and say YES to things that are outside of your comfort zone cause you never know what you might learn or who you might meet!