Dancing for My Father

I’m Looking for My Shoe!

Whenever I begin to feel like my life is too hectic and I wonder if I’m ever going to get some time alone, I think of a story my friend told me a few years ago.

Shawn has seven daughters, and he and his family live in a small home. He’s a contractor and his days begin early, so the only opportunity he has to get alone with God is before first light—before the girls wake up launching the chaos of a day in a home with seven sisters from preschool to high school.

He had just sat down with his Bible and cup of coffee when he heard little footsteps upstairs. “Oh no,” he thought, “here we go. I’m going to have to get whoever this is back to bed before she wakes up the whole house and I have to skip my quiet time.”

One of his youngest was up and already busy.

“What are you doing, honey? You need to go back to bed.”

“I can’t, Daddy. I’m looking for something.”

He noticed that she had one of her little dancing shoes in her hand.

“What are you looking for so early in the morning?”

“My other dancing shoe.”

“Your other dancing shoe? We’ll find it later. Now go to bed before you wake up your sisters.”

Her tears disarmed him, “No, daddy. I have to find it. I just have to!”

Her insistence surprised him, so he relented.

“Okay, but be quiet. I’ll be downstairs. But if you start making too much noise, you will have to stop. We’ll just have to find your shoe later.”

I found it!

He tried so hard to concentrate as her little feet pounded from room to room upstairs. Finally, the clamor stopped. “Maybe she just gave up and went back to bed.”

Just as he pulled out his journal to record something really spiritual and profound, his lesson from God for the day bounded down the steps in her pajamas and dancing shoes.

“Now what?” He was really running out of patience.

“I just thought you’d like to watch me dance.”

And then, for the next ten minutes, his little sweetie danced before dawn in her pajamas—just for her daddy.

The delight in Shawn’s heart erased every fear of waking up the household, every concern for the day ahead, and every thought in his mind except one, “That’s my girl and I love watching her dance!”

It was then that God’s Spirit asked Shawn a question every Christian should answer, “When was the last time you danced for your Father?”

Tears flowed down my friend’s face as he realized that His Heavenly Father watched him with the same “Daddy-delight” he felt in his heart watching his little girl.

So, when was the last time you danced for your Father? Or are you so busy trying to impress Him with your sacrifices and hard work that you just forgot that He delights in you?

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15, NLT)