Joy Dance

I went food shopping a day early.
My usual day will be spent waiting for a new washer to be delivered.
Food shopping day has been the same day for my entire married life.
Only certain things will cause me to switch to another day.

It’s funny what we work around.
We have certain things on our calendar that repeat each week.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
However, if changing the routine is a problem, then we have to rethink our priorities.

It was nice to go food shopping the day before my usual day.
The bowls that contain our fresh fruit were empty.
I needed to get more fresh vegetables.
Fruit and vegetables just cannot seem to stay in the house.

I actually went to three different places.
Two of the stores sell whole foods.
The other store is where I buy everyday grocery items.
My cart is usually filled with fresh everything.

When I went to my third store to pick up the few things I can only find there, I saw her.
I was driving towards a parking space.
She was across from the space I was about to enter.
She was about seven or eight years old.

Her father was opening the back of the mini van for her to get inside.
She was to busy to notice.
What she was doing was far more important than climbing into a mini van.
The little girl was dancing.

I noticed plastic necklaces around her neck.
I noticed a hairband with a bow strategically tilted on her head.
She was dancing to music that only she was able to hear.
She was smiling from ear to ear.

Her father did not seem to notice her dance.
Perhaps he sees it all the time.
The joy on the little girl’s face was precious.
The world may be falling apart, according to the news, but to this little girl it is wonderful.

Her joy was contagious.
The joy was on her face.
The joy was in her dance steps.
The joy was evident to anyone who took the time to look.

Since I was driving slowly towards the parking space, I had a front row seat.
The little girl saw me and knew that I saw her.
She smiled, did an impressive spin on her feet, and lifted her hands in the air.
Ta-da! She said in that gesture.

If I could have applauded at that moment, I would have.
I smiled back at her, which was the safer thing to do.
By the time I pulled into the parking space, the little girl was in the mini van.
Her dance and her exuberant joy made me smile.

I walked into the store, still thinking about the joy dance I just witnessed.
Everyone in this tiny market seemed to be in their own little world.
Everyone was there for a reason.
Some had baskets on their arm, others pushed small shopping carts.

I actually wished the little girl had come into the store and danced up the aisles.
I wondered if she had done that before I got there.
If she had danced her joy dance, it was not evident on the faces of the people in the store.
I got the things I needed and put them in my basket.

I was waiting my turn at the register and I saw her.
It was a cashier that usually waits on me when I go to this little market.
She was waiting on another customer.
She saw me and waved her hand in the air; her arm did a joy dance of its own.

I waved back to her.
I called her name.
Across two cash registers we greeted each other with a joy dance of our own.
No one else seemed to notice.

I was bookend-ed with joy: the little girl’s dance and the cashier’s wave.
The moments were not lost on me.
I appreciated them.
They blessed me.

It’s a funny thing about joy.
It has to be given away.
Joy overtakes you so that it begins to bubble over.
It cannot be contained.

If you ever sat on the edge of a swimming pool, you know how often you are splashed.
Without meaning to, a swimmer will splash water on you simply by kicking his feet.
The swimmer does not try to splash you.
It just happens when you sit too close to the edge.

Watch out if you sit too close to joy.
You will get splashed.
Joy is not neat and tidy.
Joy does not stay in a nicely wrapped box.

Joy dances.
Joy waves.
Joy sings.
Joy laughs.

Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart. (2 Samuel 6:12-16)

King David danced with all his might before the Lord.
David’s joy splashed over.
When someone is splashed, there are two responses.
You can join in and do a little splashing yourself or you can be annoyed.

David’s wife, Michal, did not want to be splashed with David’s joy.
Michal despised David in her heart.
David’s joy embarrassed Michal.
Michal was annoyed at the splashing.

David answered her indignation.

I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. (2 Samuel 6:21,22)

I am delighted that the little girl had a joy dance in the parking lot.
I am thrilled that the cashier waved her arm doing a joy dance of her own.
I was splashed with their contagious joy.
It was simply wonderful.