Dancing in the rain, almost

We had our last 'Creative/Movement in Worship' evening on Saturday - well last one before I go, anyways. As usual, it was a time of freedom, of dancing, of laying down all my doubts and questions for a while and letting go, being thankful, playing, remembering God's love and bigness and the things that are most important to me. All in the company of some wild, creative, beautiful ladies. I can't always believe it's the same me who sits behind a desk all day, who isn't at all as sure about her faith as she used to be, who seems to soak in the cynicism around her like a sponge. But it is. That's why these times are important. That's why I dance.

We started off the evening listening to a recording of the sound of rain. My friends had created some beautiful artwork already based on rain. I wrote this as I listened...

It's the steady steady dripping
That carves grooves
That become channels
That become deep gorges
For more concentrated flow
That changes the shape of the land
Changes the colour, the vegetation
Changes what and who settle there.

Steady steady dripping
Don't despise the small things
Let the rain tickle your toes
Soften the frazzled edges of your patience, your strength.
Let it wash you clean
Let it soak off the dirt of the day
The residues of stress and striving
Let it tickle your toes
Droplets dancing
Droplets dancing
Tickles your toes, your heels, your ankles, your calves, your knees, your thighs, your hips

Jump in
Wade, fall, kneel
Search out the deep and get in it
Soak off the sadness
Shake loose the anxiety
Let it splash and swirl and swallow you
Lose yourself
Dive in, dive under
Let it carry you

Drumming in your ears
Drowning out distraction
Drowning out depression, death, distress
Droplets tickling your toes
Stirring their appetite to take you forward
Take you deeper
Search out the puddles
Find the flood waters
Lift up your face to the skies
Let rivers run over your eyes
Wash them ready to see the seas
See the cloud the size of a man's fist
Hovering...

While we listened, my friend's little daughter was walking round tickling people's toes with some random sparkly pom poms - which inspired those lines :-) Funnily, after days of sun, it poured down the next morning. 

My friends also gave me these beautiful flowers that night, I'm very grateful. This year I've received more flowers than any other time in my life. They always seem to come at the right time, mainly from a number of amazing Penzance women I've met.