Dance Now

One of the best things about having children is that you get to do goofy, fun things with them. You have an excuse for singing at the top of your lungs while you’re driving, making the person in the next car over wonder about you; you’re totally justified in seeing who can make the best zebra noise; and you have every reason in the world to crank up the CD player in the kitchen and dance like crazy until you all fall over.

The other day, I was standing in the dining room holding Timmy when a neat song came on the radio that was playing in the kitchen. I wanted to dance! So I gripped Timmy’s right hand with my left hand, held him close with my other arm around him and his around me, and danced. Gently, of course—not crazily—because Timmy is still young. And as we danced, the thought hit me: someday, I will dance with you at your wedding. Only then, you’ll be taller than I am—probably much taller. I’ll still hold your right hand with my left, but my other arm won’t be around you holding you up, and yours won’t be helping you cling to me for dear life, lest you flop over backwards. You’ll put your hand on the small of my back to guide me, because you’ll be the leader, not I. I’ll look up into your eyes instead of down. And we’ll dance.

I know that if this time ever comes (because he might not choose to have dancing at his wedding, or might not even get married), it will be many years in the future. Time and life may intervene in unexpected ways to prevent that day from ever taking place. I have no guarantee that I’ll ever dance with Timmy at his wedding.

That’s why we dance now.

Do you dance with your children? Maybe not literally (although it’s a great activity), but at least figuratively? Do you do things with them—silly, random, fun things—that you can look back on later and remember, not just the activity, but the fun, laughter, and love you shared?

Often, we think about doing the big things, like vacations, Christmas, and birthday parties. But do we make the most of the little moments of each day with our kids? Yes, the big events can bring big memories. But so do the little ones, the special moments you make out of nothing, the moments that almost pass by as ordinary until you make them something special.

Timmy will never remember that we danced that day in the dining room. But I will. And if we have enough of these moments together, he will at least grow up knowing that home, and Mommy, were fun and secure places to be.

Both fun and security are important, but one is foundational. Security is foundational to fun. If you don’t feel secure, you won’t be having fun. But when my children say things like Ellie has said a few times—“I never want to grow up, because being a kid is so much fun”—I know they feel secure as well.

So by having fun in the everyday moments, I not only get to hear my children’s contagious giggles, I also get to know that I’m building security into them. We may not have crazy-fun moments every day, but the everyday moments can be crazy-fun, if we’re willing to seize them.

How about you? Do you have fun with your child? Does your child get to experience the precious gift of having fun with you? Because that’s what family fun is: a gift from God, designed to knit together the hearts of the parents and the children.

None of us knows what tomorrow will bring, or if there will even be a tomorrow. If tomorrow does come, we don’t know whether it will be filled with joy, tragedy, or something in between. Put simply, you can’t count on tomorrow, either to exist or to afford you the opportunities to have fun and bond in silly ways with your children. So don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Dance now.

Proverbs 3:27, 28—Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow”—when you now have it with you.

Proverbs 27:1—Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.