What it Means to Follow
If God has been teaching me one thing this year, it’s been what it means to follow.
Dance has been one giant metaphor for my relationship with God and His leading in my writing career and personal life.
While in the past I’ve always tried to follow God’s will for my life, the process in following His leading has never been so vivid as it has been this last year as I’ve learned what it means in dance to follow my lead.
Traditional the woman is called the follow in a dance partnership. When she accepts a dance, she is accepting that the man will lead her through familiar steps. Sounds simple, right?
It’s not.
Sometimes the steps are so familiar that I anticipate the next step. Sometimes I’m wrong because I ignored the subtle movements of my partner who wanted to take me in a different direction. Because I wasn’t listening and assumed the dance was going one way, I missed out on what my lead originally intended. But the moment is gone, and I’ll never know what could have been.
Sometimes I get so caught up in the dance I forget to listen to my partner which can result in awkward moments of back leading and apologies. “Sorry, did I just hijack the dance?”
By taking control of the momentum instead of following through in the direction my lead wants me to go, I stifle the dance and the follow/lead relationship. This can break the trust that is needed within the dance relationship and can hinder the flow of the movement. The dance can become lifeless because the lead might be afraid to take you where he wants you to go. He might not trust that you will follow.
Sometimes I become anxious when I dance with a new partner because I don’t know what to expect. Or I might be intimidated because I know my lead is better than I am. But I’ve learned that worrying hinders me from listening to my partner. The more I worry about the steps, the worse my steps become resulting in a sloppy, choppy dance where the lead has to carry me along. Instead of dancing my part, my lead is doing all the work. Not fun for him (or me) and a good way not to be asked for another dance.
But I learned a trick that I don’t use often enough during times like this.
Take a deep breath, close my eyes, and trust my lead.
Closing my eyes helps me forget about the steps, keeps me from anticipating and back leading, and really helps me connect with my partner so we can dance as one. By closing my eyes I am able to really focus on listening to his body movement and following where he leads.
And that, my friend, is where the magic happens.
What can you take away from this with your relationship with God?
He is there to lead us, we are there to follow. We don’t have to know where, or how, we just need to trust Him, close our eyes, listen to his leading, and step out in faith!
Not easy, I know. But with practice your dance can become magical!
