Raising My Arms in Praise

Praise has many postures.  My favorite is arms upraised.  It makes me feel like I’m a little girl again, lifting my arms that I might be lifted, imagining that it is God, bending over to pick me up and cradle me in the embrace of love.

Ben in his Grandpa's arms

My arms upraised remind me of safety and of being small – just the right size in relation to God.

Hands in the air call to mind Uncle Bob, the tallest man I knew in our family of short fellows, hauling me up on his shoulders where I could see everything.  Upraised arms remind me of being tall – just the right size with God.

Arms upraised remind me of lifting my own son up, up, up, ever higher, his laughter a visible expression of joy – just the right emotion when meeting God.

Arms held up through his tears as he cries his sickness and yearns for comfort, my grandson sleeping the fitful rest of the sick child with breaths measured by the rhythm of his father’s chest – just the right spot when needing God.

Dance Into The Light

Do you see the sun?  It’s a brand new day

O the world’s in your hands - now use it . . .

Come on and dance into the light

Everybody dance into the light

These words from Phil Collins’ song Dance Into The Light are what I think of when I hear Psalm 30 . . .

There’s a recognition in his words of a painful past . . . what’s past is past – don’t turn around . . . brush away the cobwebs of freedom . . . the idea that there will always be a cost to living life into its fullness, but to not be captive to that past . . . that cost . . .

It is the idea the psalmist expresses in telling of lament and trouble, of the sense of abandonment and hopelessness being washed away in the simple act of worship and praise . . .

Having a great day?  Feeling the love?

Dance into the light.

Having the worst day of your life?

Dance into the light.

Loving everyone you see and meet?

Dance into the light.

Just not seeing it today?

Dance into the light.

Praise . . . the joy-worship of God . . . is itself an act of faith . . . sometimes you feel it, sometimes you don’t . . .

Either way . . . Dance into the light . . . Dance into the light. . . Dance into God . . .