“On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtledoves, and a partridge in a pear tree.” (“The Twelve Days Of Christmas”). In the film Ocean’s Twelve, a thief has to navigate a complex sequence of roving motion detector beams. To accomplish this, he choreography a dance sequence to a particular song that syncs up perfectly with the movement of the beams. The music and the dancing help him to gracefully and successfully overcome his obstacles. Like the thief in that movie, each of us faces a complex and ever changing sequence of challenges and obstacles in our path. Whatever methods or strategies that we have tried in the past, the best way to navigate life's challenges is by learning to dance to the song of redeeming love. “And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.” (Alma 5:9). Our Savior's love reverberates back into our past and into our future and fills our present with its sweet melodies if only we will take the time to listen. The more that we listen, the more our bodies and our souls won't be able to help themselves but respond and sway and dance to the music. The true essence of joy is when we are right at the very edge of our abilities, in constant danger of almost, but not quite, being overwhelmed by the difficulty but nevertheless triumphing with the grace of Jesus Christ. Life is not meant to be a drudgery or a grim march towards death. Life should be a dance. I hope that we may all sing and dance to the song of redeeming life and overcome all of life's challenges with grace and joy.
