A while ago I arrived early at a Pastor's breakfast and decided to wait in my car for a while before going in. I was watching the early morning rush hour traffic and noticed an old lady standing on the side of the road, she appeared to be waiting for someone. What caught my attention was that she was doing a little dance on the spot... she did not appear to be drunk and it was not cold that morning. I realised that she was dancing to a song that only she was hearing.
A friend joined her a little later and they walked off to work (I presume).
Her dance made quite an impact on me, she looked poor and the thought struck me "what has she got to dance about?" I was going through a bit of a rough time that week and the last thing I would have felt like doing was dancing!
I continued to ponder on this and realised that what I was seeing was a lady who had a contentment in spite of her circumstances... I wondered if that was a demonstration of the secret of contentment Paul spoke about in Phi 4:12 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." (NIV).
That old lady, on her way to work, had a song in her heart... I wondered when last I had a song in my heart, when last had I felt like dancing in spite of difficult circumstances.
You see I know of a time when I walked with a song in my heart every day... in the early days of knowing Jesus I had a song in my heart that no one else could hear but they could see it! They could see the joy, the contentment and the excitement I had for life that came through that 'first love'. Had I lost my first love? Did the years somehow chisel away at it until I no longer heard the song?
I have been challenged by an old lady whom I perhaps will never see again and who will never know what affect her quiet dance had on me.
In Psalm 118:14 it says "The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." The Lord is my song... with that song in my heart I discover what it means to be content no matter what the circumstances are.
Do I once again have that song in my heart? I am beginning to hear it again although there is still a bit of static. But I am challenged to once again fully discover the song God has placed within me, I want to quietly dance again in the joy of rediscovering my 'first love'.
The Church in Ephesus did a bunch of things right but in Revelation 2v4 we read that one thing God had against them was that they had forsaken their first love.
What song has God placed in your heart? Is the Lord still your song or has it been replaced by the song of the world that doesn't speak of contentment but rather of anxiety, stress and depression?
I still don't always feel like dancing but through the Grace of God, my feet are starting to tap again to the beat of the song in my heart.
To that old lady on the side of the road, thank you!
2 comments:
Hi Derek. Once again, thank you - gives one some fresh inspiration to think things through. And: I believe that we humans are often harder on ourselves than what God is. Even if we don't hear the 'song' all the time, God does... even in our ancious and stress-filled existence. And THAT is my peace... that, once God has put that song in your heart, it is always there, even if we can't hear it all the time and other times so serenely that we don't want to dance to it, but just... what's the word ... REST!
Hi Renate, that is true... I think the song 'not being there' has more to do with my hearing (or not hearing) than with God... you are right he puts the song there but sometimes the static of life makes it difficult to hear. Glad the blogs are a blessing to you... derek
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