Listening

I spent much of the past month and a half choreographing a Christmas musical for the local high school choir. Last weekend as they sang and danced their hearts out for packed audiences, I watched with as much delight as the folks seeing the show for the first time.

I love working with those students. They're talented, fun, and so appreciative. The whole process energizes me. And I learn from it, too.

A couple of weeks before rehearsals begin, the director gives me the music, and I face my biggest challenge. I listen.

Over and over again I listen to a song until it works its way from my ears to my feet. I listen until the dance emerges from somewhere inside me, and I know I've found just the right steps.

Then I start all over with the next one. I always wonder if I'll finish all the songs by the time I'm supposed to start teaching the dances to the students. Somehow I always do, and then the real fun begins. Step by step they learn each dance, and we practice, practice, practice until they've memorized every nuance of every movement.

Finally opening night arrives, the spotlights blaze, and the stage comes to life.

As I watch them dazzle their audience I can't help but remember the slow, steady process it took to get there. What is now an explosion of energetic expression started with a hidden work no one saw. Listening.

Isn't our walk with the Lord a lot like that? If we want to find our way and keep from stumbling in this divine dance of life, we have to start by sitting still and listening. To His heartbeat. To the song He whispers in our ear. We have to listen until we know how the dance is supposed to go. And then we're ready to walk out on stage where all the world can see. The lights come up. The music plays. And the dance begins.

But it really began with a hidden work no one saw. No one but the One who's always ready to whisper His song. The real question is, are we ready to listen?