Dance with Abandon
Most days, I feel my success is dependent on being competent, disciplined, appropriate and controlled. In the circles many of us inhabit, we have social norms that keep us at a distance from each other. These norms feel safe and keep our expression of emotions in check. Our technology and vehicles and locked doors allow us this luxury.
Enter Africa.
When I travel to East Africa, it messes with all my markers of success. My African friends speak often of how their heart is responding rather than what they think. Fellow pastors grab my hand to walk and talk in a gesture of camaraderie. Every time you arrive or leave a place, everyone greets each other with a warm hug and a deep look in each other's eyes. And the dancing! Everyone dances. Dancing together is a way of saying: "I see you. We are human together."
The first time I went to East Africa, I had some reserve about joining in the dance, afraid I'd lose my dignity and be laughed at. This time, it was different. I danced at every opportunity. Even though I'm not a great dancer, even though I wish I was 20 pounds thinner, even though my friends were watching. I danced because I wanted to say to my friends, "Turi kumwe" (the Kirundi phrase meaning "We are together"). I danced because my soul needed to dance and to be released just a bit more from the pressure to hold it all together.
Africa invites me to live with more abandon, to be fully human not super human.
But so does God. Every day, every minute.
Early church father Irenaeus said: "The glory of God is a human fully alive."
As summer wanes and we look at the rush of responsibilities ramping up, I invite you to find places to be fully alive, whether it's a dance party in your living room, sharing a meal with good friends, stopping for a conversation with someone living on the street or just being still enough to hear your heart beating and your soul inviting you to go deeper.
To learn more about my trip and the people we met, visit africanroad.org.