I grew up as a dancer. My childhood is marked by perfect posture, flexed hands, and pointed toes, and I loved almost every minute of it. The moments I didn't love were those when I couldn't figure out a move and watching the girl next to me nail it. Those moments when my costume didn't fit quite as well as hers did. Those moments when my split was just not as deep as everyone else's. Comparison wasn't just a trap to watch out for in the dance world, it was completely unavoidable. To dance in a group is to compare. Dance was fun, but it was hard on my body and soul.
I stopped dancing in high school, when I felt too embarrassed to order a costume the next size up from my slender ballet-built friends. This year, as a sophomore in college, I decided to join my college's campus-wide dance performance. The event is lead by our incredible dance ministry, who's mission is to glorify God through dance. I go to an evangelical college where absolutely every moment/group/class on campus' mission is to glorify God, and I'll be honest: I was skeptical about how dance could worship anything beyond the self. Dance and dancing culture is twisted in my mind to be all about the dancer: how they look in their costumes, how well they perform their moves, how their skill moves the audience to amazement.
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But I guess enough of me missed dancing, so I signed up. And, a month into practices, dance will never be the same to me again.
As a Christian, I no longer belong to myself. My life and my body belong to Christ and he paid the highest price for them. The body that I dance with is Christ's. Also as Christian, I am filled with the Spirit. And by humbling my heart and focusing my mind on the Lord, my actions become praise to the Father.
When I dance, I am using the body Christ bought for me that is flooded with the Spirit to praise the Father. If I only turn my eyes to the Lord, dance can be nothing but worship.
