Thursday, October 5, 2006

Dear God,

I heard that familiar voice ringing all the way into the bathroom. When I went into the living room my husband was watching the television, enjoying a blast from the past. Jerry Lee Lewis was singing, his fingers sliding across the piano keys. One of my favorites from the 60's I stood and listened to the old man play.

And that's when it struck me. I took my husband's hand and we rock and rolled to "Great Balls of Fire." We danced like two crazed fools at 8:30 in the morning. When Jerry Lee said, "if you think you liked that, you're gonna love this," he began to sing "Whole Lot of Shakin Goin' On'". We continued the dance, swinging one another around, singing and shakin'. It felt good bein' in my husband's arms, seeing the smile on his face, watching him do funny things with his bowed legs and shakin' arms.

As I drove down the driveway on my way to work, I smiled too. A brief moment in the arms of the man I love brought joy to my soul. I know You smiled too.

There are fleeting moments of ecstasy when God is ever so present. Even a moment of love between husband and wife can raise the level of joy in the world. Who would have driven by our home early in the morning and realized that joy was in the making in our living room? Two nutsy old people, one who is 60 and the other 70 dancing the day away?

When asked in my covenant group yesterday the question, "What did you take away with you from your renewal?" I told him that my most profound learning was that God's presence is revealed every moment of every day. I see God in the smallest things. What some would call ordinary is to me an extraordinary moment of God. I sense his presence all around me. I went looking for God. I took a journey with God and the two of us came back together bound at the heart. My God, what a great gift!

Spinning and turning, I sensed God was in the middle of our dance, happy, laughing, sensing that all was well.

Did you enjoy the dance,
Great Partner?
Did our joy pour over into the world?
Our joy is never possessed by us only.
Our gaiety is to be spilled out,
like the woman who poured out the perfume
upon Jesus' feet.
While some are turned off by such lavishness,
I revel in the beauty of one heart turned toward God.
My joy is God's joy.
It was created in me by the Master Creator.
My delight in the joy is my gift back.

Love always, Andrea