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 Accept this dance
Monthly, this book touches you in places where you may have been dormant. I feel as if this book was written especially for me to read. With wonderful examples, Joyce Rupp shares her journey and challenges you to dance with God. As gifts, I have given this book to many people so they also can have a guide for their journey through life. Monthly, a group of my friends get together to share how the particular monthly chapter has affected them. I have read many, many spiritual books but somehow go back to this one when I feel that my spiritual life is dry. Joyce's book gives me sustenance for the journey.
May God's Life Dance within You
In this revised edition of Joyce Rupp's 1992 book, as in the original, monthly themes are connected to daily life and the seasons of the year. In the introduction Rupp invites us to "be more faithful to prayer, be more constant to the dance of life that God desires for us." Each chapter consists of a Rupp poem, scripture passage, reflection, suggestions for prayer, guided meditation, and closing prayer.
The reflection for March, entitled Leaning on God, begins with the author's discovery of lean-tos during a mountain hike. "I imagined cattle, horses, and sheep seeking shelter, finding comfort from the harsh storms that can come so quickly to the high places," she writes. From there, she explores the human need for lean-tos and offers examples in the life of Jesus, mentioning his visits with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus as he traveled. In the Garden of Olives, Jesus turned in vain to the disciples for comfort, and as he suffered on the cross he directed John to act as Mary's lean-to.
Rupp addresses the common tendency to resist relying on others and urges us to examine what keeps us from leaning on God or others. She suggests that we become aware of lean-tos in the world, bus shelters, shade trees, and awnings, for example. That awareness can bring to mind our own spiritual shelters, and we can take a moment to give thanks for them.
As Rupp explains, this book is flexible enough for everyone to use, individually or in a group, at time intervals of our choice. The suggestions for prayer in each chapter provide a variety of opportunities to write, reflect, draw, and read scripture. And the author's prayer is with us: "May God's life dance within you as you pause for quiet places and prayer in your busy life."
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