Dancing Hands

When my children were little, I always knew when they had a fever.
They didn’t have dancing eyes!
The fever gave their eyes a dull, glazed-over appearance.
I longed for…prayed for…the fever to break so their bright, dancing eyes would return.

I actually witnessed dancing hands, the other day, and I was amazed.

I literally bumped into this couple since the aisles were narrow and the store was crowded.
The din of shoppers was all around me…becoming incessant white noise after a while.

There they were, in this sea of conversation, quiet…still…focusing intently on each other.
I would glance at them every once in a while.
Such a sense of peace surrounded them.

His hands were dancing…forming pirouettes and pliers…simply beautiful!
She watched his hands, and as if on cue, responded with her own dance.
No ballet could have been lovelier.

The beauty of the dance of sign language.

I happened to be behind them in line.
I tried to tune out the clamor around me.
I tried to envision what it must be like to hear nothing at all.

I remember having a discussion with my son, who loves music even more than I do.
We talked that day about how hard it would be if we couldn’t hear any music at all.
We both agreed that we would not miss the noise of the world.
But not being able to hear music…at all?

There is music all around us…the melody of a songbird, the cooing of a newborn baby, the whirring of hummingbird wings, the mooing of cows in the field, thunder in the distance.

I heard the pleasantest whistling today.
I turned around, smiled, and told the person how delightful it was.
I don’t even think he even realized he was whistling.
He seemed thrilled that I enjoyed his melody.

I would miss the sound of music…terribly.
I can’t even imagine the total silence of deafness.

Watching the signing couple, I remembered how much I wanted to learn sign language.
Dancing hands…moving to a linguistic beat.
Beautiful…necessary.

God’s Word talks about another kind of deafness.
Spiritual deafness.

To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to Me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
(Jeremiah 6:10)

God’s Word talks about how beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News.
Can you imagine the beauty of dancing hands sharing the Gospel?

I have seen signing done in churches while the sermon was being preached.
I have seen signing done as worship songs were sung.
There is nothing more beautiful than quiet mouths and dancing hands.

Consider carefully what you hear. (Mark 4:24)
Consider carefully how you listen. (Luke 8:18)

God cares deeply about our ears.
Do we?

What are we listening to?
Who are we listening to?
How much of the world’s noise invades our stillness and our focus?

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk and they begged Him to place His hand on the man. After He took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers into the man’s ears. The He spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh, said to him, “Ephphatha” (which means be opened). At this the man’s ears were opened, his tongue loosened and he began to speak plainly. (Mark 7:31-35)

Only Jesus can open the ears of the deaf and open the eyes of the blind.

As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, ” but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (John 9:2,3)

So that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Imagine.
What the world sees as inferior, handicapped, broken…Jesus sees as a Glory display.

The Kingdom is upside down…radically different from the world.
Upside down and backwards…glorious and beautiful.
The silence of the dancing hands…telling the Story.
Amen!