Dancing, Dancing
on armor, and the hidden made manifest
dancing
dancing
in their armor
dancing doubt
dancing
leaping
joy no more
There is a manner of movement that mimics life, yet is void of it, a restless turning within the shell of oneself. One may clothe the inward man in armor and call it strength, yet still the motion betrayeth him, for even doubt learneth to dance when it is not brought into the light.
It is no true rejoicing, this leaping and turning, when the heart remaineth unexamined. The body may keep time, yet the soul standeth apart, untouched by what it feigns. For that which is not rooted in God cannot endure, no matter how finely it is adorned.
And so there cometh an undoing. The step faileth and the music looseth its hold. What once seemed as joy is revealed as something spent. Better then to stand bare before the Lord, than to move endlessly within a truth never faced.
What do you think of this collage & erasure?
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Here are a few more of my recent erasure and collage pieces if you’d like to explore:
I love the collage to correspond! It uncovers the erasure even more. Living in our own skin with the Lord is the safest place to be 💕 thanks for the reminder.
I call my publication “Dancing With Jesus Today” because of a personal experience borne out of tragedy. When I lost my first wife Susan to mesothelioma I was devastated yet was the pastor of a decent mid-sized church at the time. When I was coming back to the pulpit after a month off to heal, I heard the Lee Ann Womack song, “I Hope You Dance” when I was sitting in a pizza shop, by myself, wondering how or what I would preach when I stepped back into the pulpit, with a heart still raw. I share that to say that what this erasure spoke to me is the need to have Jesus with us in this dance called life. Otherwise, it is, as Bruce Springsteen once wrote, “dancing in the dark.” One addendum: in that time I have experienced much in ministry. And so my benediction ever week (now that I am back in the pulpit though retired) mirrors that. Go in peace. Go in love. And smile (that is for my second wife Connie who died after a nine-year battle with metastatic breast cancer. People were captivated by her smile). And walk (that is in tribute to one my first wife’s Susan’s songs, “Walk with Jesus today, words I put on her tombstone). And sing (that is for my friend Sam, a boisterous Christian from my last church before “retiring, “ who sang solos and died suddenly of a widow-maker heart attack - toughest funeral I ever had to do, but also the most Holy Spirit filled). And dance with Jesus today (that was in honor of that first sermon back in my grief - keep on going). So, as you can see, this erasure reminded of a lot of stuff! God bless you, Mandy, and Jake and your little girl as well.