The Divine Dance

     During my time home from my studies in South Korea, I spent a month living with my grandfather. His house was so quiet and I was able to spend a good amount of time reading and swapping stories with him. I learned about WWII, family history, and his travels. He heard about my adventures in Africa and Asia, and he ate my Korean cooking.

     On my last walk around the hill where my grandfather lived, I saw a lady walking a large golden retriever with a shaggy winter coat. 

     Now it’s important to note that the reason I took a walk this day was to clear my head. I had spent too much time reading and thinking. As a result, my head was spinning full of ideas, questions and plans for the near future. So I decided to walk it off.

     As I approached the lady and her dog, the dog began to bark at me even though I was more than a 100ft away. Walking closer, I could tell the dog was friendly and so was the lady. When I was close enough to talk to the owner, I reached down to pet the dog. 

     While I was petting this mass of wagging fur, the lady explained, “My dog’s name is Jugs. I’m sure you can see that he is blind.”

     Looking closer, I could see the white film clouding the dog’s eyes. When I finished petting him, I continued on my way and they went theirs.

     I couldn’t have been more than five steps past that sweet old dog, when I heard God say, “You’re a blind dog, just like Jugs.”

     God’s words pierced my heart. Before I could say, “What?” God continued, “Jugs can’t see where he’s going and neither can you. But Jugs is happy. He has a good master who is kindly leading him and so he just keeps walking.”  

     Tears streamed down my face. I realized I was truly blind, but I don’t need to see or know where I am going because I have a kind Master who is leading me. As long as I stay by His side, when He moves left, I will move left. And when He moves right, I will move right, matching His steps in a divine dance. This revelation brought me instant relief from all the thoughts I had been turning over and over in my mind. 

     On my walk I expected to escape my thoughts only to discover that God wanted to enter them and overwhelm me with his love. 

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye.”

Psalm 32:8 NKJ

by Kathy Alexander, Portland, OR (teacher of English in Korea)