Happy Dances

When you were a child
you imagined
a world where nothing could defeat you,

where battles with barrons and dragons,
paragons of crime, the other team,
even parents,

ended in victory,
in a dance of rejoicing as you jumped
from bed to bed..

You are older now,
your bones still with the wear of time,
your heart weary

with age and more, the tolls
of battles fought, too rarely won,
too often lost,

The scars more evident to you perhaps
than those who see you still,
at the head of the line,

Reading your heart
to once again enter the fray
that has damaged you deeply,

yet left you no less convinced
that after the final war,
you will stand, for all your scars,

on the winning side.
You smile slightly in the early morning sun,
already anticipating the victory dance.

About this poem

“rejoice” is the word presented us in our Lenten discipline as presented by the Methodists. It’s a word we hear a lot during Holy Week, Palm Sunday and Easter. Yet students of the bible know that it was not a single leap from the celebration of Palm Sunday, to the awe of Easter morning. In between was passion week, when suddenly, to the disciples and any looking, the whole “Jesus thing” seemed to fall apart and in one short week of spiritual struggle, arrest, torture and horrible death, the worst seemed to come to pass.

That Easter morning, before the women found the tomb empty, the disciples were broken men. What a difference it would have made in their lives those last few days of the week if they knew ahead of time of the victory that would come with Easter Morning!

It’s the same for us, all these years later. Sometimes we feel worn and torn by life. Truly battered and broken. Heaven knows I have and there is nothing special about my journey. I have learned however, that the moment I break from wallowing in my own feeling of brokenness and defeat, and refocus on what I know, that ultimately, there is a victory that cares less about the RESULTS of my work and life than the heart that life is presented with, healing begins. I can rejoice in the midst of tough times. Sometimes I even do a little happy dance in the dining room..

I don’t jump from bed to bed however. My beds are too old for that.

Tom

About these Lenten Poems

My friend Cathy Benson is on to something. Instead of doing without for Lent, she is doing MORE with a prayer project that is thoughtful and caring.

Giving up something for Lent is a church tradition, not a biblical command. It was designed to get our minds and hearts right as we approach the holy week and Easter. It’s a good spiritual discipline.

But I think a spiritual discipline of doing something more is also a powerful way to prepare our hearts for Easter. The Methodists, through their “Rethink Church” initiative have come up with a photographic way to do this (see below). I am going to add a poem with each image for the lent season to help prepare myself. Feel free to glom on to the idea, visit the blog and read, or share your thoughts and prayers.