Friends For The Journey

… But soon we discover that the person we expect to take our loneliness away cannot give us what we ask for. Often that person feels oppressed by our demands and runs away, leaving us in despair. As long as we approach another person from our loneliness, no mature human relationship can develop. Clinging to one another in loneliness is suffocating and eventually becomes destructive. For love to be possible we need the courage to create space between us and to trust that this space allows us to dance together. (Henri Nouwen).

Notice that Nouwen says that we must have the courage to “create space between us.” This speaks to the issue of personal boundaries; our own and of others. In order to learn to dance relationally, we have to have appropriate space between us and those we love.

Debbie and I have been taking Latin Dancing classes – it has been enormous fun, especially doing this together. Learning how to dance, learning rhythm is like learning a new language or learning to play a musical instrument.

There is a passage in C.S. Lewis’ book, The Problem of Pain in which he likens the Holy Trinity to a divine dance—or a playful soccer game, in which the divine persons of the Trinity playfully pass the ball back and forth as they run up the field. The message of salvation and redemption is that the Trinity invites us to join in the game and to dance with them.