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Dancing, Riding,...

           Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7)

            When I watched Dancing with The Stars years ago, one of the things I loved about the show was the transition made by at least some of the stars. For the first several dances, you could see them thinking their way through the dance. Step…step…step…pose like so. Step…step…take his/her hand…step. And when they showed the rehearsals, you saw some of the same things on the part of the professional dancers, as they coached, Step…step…step…pose like so, arm up. Step…step…take my hand, no the other hand…step. Pay attention to the beat.

            After a number of weeks, the stars would come out on stage and the processing would be greatly diminished or gone. They would take the steps, take the hand, spin out until their partner’s grasp pulled, and even do a lift. Generally, I described this as stopping moving to the music and starting to dance. There’s another piece of the puzzle that goes with it. The stars who made the adjustment also were the stars who had learned to trust themselves and their partners.

            If you’ve read this blog, you know that I have two basic problems with trust. I don’t know what it looks like well enough to evaluate the quality and level of my trust and if I were able to evaluate the quality and level of my trust, then I would trust myself and my trust, rather than God. Both those things focus on step…step…step…pose like so. If I trust God, I’ll spin out until His grasp pulls. That doesn’t mean that I won’t have to learn the steps to the dance. It doesn’t mean I get to cut into a breakdance routine in the middle of a waltz.

            I never took dancing lessons, but I did take horse-riding lessons as a kid. At one point, the instructor introduced a second rider to the ring. Instantly, my lack of trust was revealed. I had to tell the other child not to get too close, because my pony might kick, and that might end up with me hitting the ground. I didn’t trust my riding skills (probably with good cause.) I didn’t trust my pony. I didn’t trust the other child (or by extension, the other pony,) and I didn’t trust the instructor. The result of my lack of trust was that I had to step in to take charge of the situation.

            So while it might not be good for me to be able to evaluate the quality and level of my trust, I may be discovering how to evaluate the quality and level of distrust based on how much I try to step in and fix or otherwise take charge.

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