Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, July 16, 2008


My mother told me I was dancing before I was born.
She could feel my toes tapping wildly inside her for months.

- Ginger Rogers, dancer & star, born on this day, 1911


Fred Astaire was great. But - I always took to Ginger! She was the one who said (and I love it!) “Fred and I were doing the same thing ….. but I was doing it backwards and in high heels!” But didn’t she look fantastic??!!

I probably floated in the womb as a witless, complacent fat blob. I had no idea what was coming, what was in store. No toe tapping wildly on my part. But then again, I never asked my mother, so how do I know? Maybe I was tap dancing in there! After I emerged from the womb, I was a bundle of energy, alas often in a negative way, crying, awake all night, my poor father walking me up and down the halls.

However: Life got good for me as the years went by. I certainly wasn’t on the Silver Screen tap dancing my heart out. But. I was wandering all around the World, meeting fascinating people, doing fun things centered in what I think as important about being human. Standing as an icon at altars in far-flung places, inviting people to enter more deeply into the Mystery of “God” - and therefore into the Mystery of Themselves. And I was being dragged along into the same Mysteries – often “dancing” backwards and, in a sense, in high heels, i.e., having to learn how to be nimble.

I think that God wants us to be like Ginger. Waiting with wild expectancy in the womb, tapping wildly, just crazy with excitement for the adventure ahead, anticipating untold delights. And then being led by God in the Great Dance of Life, having to figure out how to follow, not lead, understanding that if we can just surrender, it will be a glorious swirl!

It doesn’t matter if it didn’t happen at birth. Any time is a good time. The dance can begin now. Just go with the flow, precarious as we may be on those high heels. Lightness of Being soon becomes natural - and off we go, God leading us back and forward and around in circles, enjoying the sparkle of what it means to be Alive. You don’t need special skills – just the ability to accept yourself.

Enjoy the Dance!

Brian+