Dancing with a Limp
Traveling a grief filled month, of childhood memories of my Mom and Dad’s birthdays, wedding anniversary, and my first Mother’s Day since my Mom’s death four months ago, not to mention my estrangement from two of my children, found me seeking healing for many wounds. Learning in the process, some wounds fail to heal completely. Yet I can still find Joy in life as I embrace dancing with a limp.
A broken heart never heals perfectly after loss; but that is the beauty of it, for through the fissure shines a transcendent love no longer bound by physicality, but vibrant forever in memory.
A dance of sorts, grief invites many emotions to fill its dance card. Each partner bringing its own measure of healing. Even my most popular dance partner, regret, soothed my willful heart with the balm of grace.
living with a limp
Instead of a sign of weakness, living with a limp actually implies great inner strength. The breaking open of our hearts and lives endows us with a greater capacity for love, compassion, and service.
Within the embrace of our own brokenness, we become wounded healers.
In the well-known story of Jacob wrestling God in Genesis 32:22-32, Jacob prevails, but God leaves him with a limp. The limp, along with the name change to Israel, serve as reminders of Jacob’s strength, not his weakness.
As grief and the brokenness of our past mar our lives with a limp, we learn dancing with a limp celebrates the strength of love which shines brighter through our wounds.
dancing with a limp
More of a perspective shift, dancing with a limp implies a choice. At times, grief or our own woundedness feels heavy and we sink under the weight, sitting life out for a while.
But as resilience produces Hope, the resultant joy invites us to love well through celebrating with our limitations, rather than using them as an excuse to withdraw.
The more I move into healing, the more I notice God inviting me away from a mindset of complete removal of pain and brokenness and into a place of acceptance.
For in the place of acceptance, my eyes now see love’s beauty even in loss. Memories hold joy rather than sorrow, and brokenness speaks of strength.
Moving me to choose dancing with a limp as a way of celebrating God’s strength in my weakness.
Learning the Steps
As with any good dance, we have no Hope of mastery unless we make learning the steps a priority. While no real steps for dancing with a limp exist, we can keep in mind a few things which help move us to at least give it a try.
- Let Go. Release the expectation of your version of healing. Remember while on earth, Jesus healed in various ways, and sometimes, not at all.
- Loosen Up. Release rigid mindsets of your need for things to be as they were “before” the death, estrangement, trial. Remember God makes all things new, not the same.
- Love Anyway. Choose new ways to express your love even without reciprocity. Loving well through your woundedness shows forth God’s strength and beauty.
Accepting God’s transformative invitation to dance with a limp, we open ourselves to new avenues of loving both God and others well.
loving well with a limp
Though entering the month of May with a heavy heart, my deep desire was to transcend the grief and move into loving well through acceptance.
God’s invitation was simply “dance with the limp”.
Ultimately, as I shifted from the heaviness of varied losses and wounds, I felt lighter, almost free. Suddenly each memory held love, grace, and unexpected healing.
While I still have my limp, it adds a depth of authenticity and character. Instead of waiting for something outside of me to author healing, joy, or love, I simply become love.
From a place of love, dancing with a limp becomes the conduit through which I not only love others well, but find Hope within my own brokenness, restoring Joy in the midst of suffering.
tell his story link up
I am thrilled to be the new host of Tuesday’s Tell His Story Link up! Jeanne Takenaka and I share the link up on alternate weeks, with Jeanne hosting the first and third Tuesdays, as well as the occasional fifth Tuesday, and my hosting the second and fourth Tuesdays!
Each week we gather here as storytellers, word weavers, and encouragers to make His name known. Our story is God’s story and this small corner of the blogging world, where we come together each Tuesday, needs you.
This is a place where poetry, snapshots, prayers, and stories find a safe spot to nod in agreement that what we have to say matters. I am glad you are here and would love to have you join the #TellHisStory community!
Click over here to read more about the #TellHisStory community and find a button to add to your site.
