When was the last time you laughed like a child? Have you ever noticed that whenever anyone asks, “When was the last time…” you can almost feel the sting of some nostalgic regret before the question is even finished?

Again, when was the last time you laughed like a child? You know, uncontrollably, with abandon, without self reserve or self-consciousness? How about your spouse? When was the last time you saw or heard him or her laughing like that?

I saw my wife laugh like that last night. Gentlemen, there could be something here worth noting. We decided to attend a couple’s event that included an introductory lesson in ball room dancing. There was a point in my life when I thought I was graceful, fluid, perhaps even debonair…but it seems to have passed. The good news is that my wife’s joyful smile wasn’t really attached to my robotic movements…well, maybe a little.

Though our initial efforts were definitely less swan lake and more ugly duckling…perhaps less Fred Astaire and more Jerry Lewis is a better analogy…we had a great time in our mutual incompetence and were able to navigate a few basic moves.

There is a precious edge between competence and incompetence. It is a place of tension and uncertainty. Dancing as a couple adds a new dimension to that edge as one cannot cross the threshold of incompetence without the other. The pair must find a rhythm together, learning the moves and timing in coordination. Mastery must be created mutually.

Leading also takes on it’s own meaning in the dance, light touches at hand or shoulder indicating direction and intention. Traditionally, the man leads which demands that he give good signals while requiring the woman to follow. This is quite an art and I noticed Sally closing her eyes at points in an effort not to lead or anticipate me too much.

There was no mastery on our part and I was only marginally less stiff at the end of the lesson. However, we did laugh and it was mostly without self-consciousness.

I could write much more on this as I think dancing has many lessons to offer us as couples and individuals. However, I woke this morning to thoughts of many things. Not many bad things. Not even necessarily too many things. All of us are living in a season of many things, places that demand our presence, people that need our attention, duties that require our engagement.

Undoubtedly, there are things that are not critical, noisy, or unnecessarily distracting. But we’ve got plenty of people telling us how distracted, unfocused, and not present we are. Amid all the noise, there are still many things that need us – appropriately, necessarily, dutifully. These are places we need to show up with people we need to show up for.

Today’s post isn’t about deep breaths, disconnecting, mindfulness, prayer, or being a better person. Those are all wonderful things and you already know where to get plenty of encouragement, or boot camp kick-in-the-pants messages.

No, I just wanted to say: I saw my wife laugh like a child last night. And today, there are still many things that rightfully demand my effort and energy. And though she might have been laughing a little at my gritted teeth or Mr. Roboto footwork, she was mostly abandoning the many things for a moment, even though they would need her to show up for them today and tomorrow.

And that’s ok. It’s what we’re made for. We’re made to engage fully with our lives, wrestle with its realities, face its struggles, and yes, occasionally giggle like a little girl…or a little boy. Here’s to you and your beautiful many things. All of them. Let go of the less than ideal for a minute and embrace the meaning in all of it – it’s there. Allow yourself some missteps in your waltz, laugh it off, and get back to the many things that keep it all moving.

Some of us are at halftime and some are playing in the fourth quarter. There are many things in both places and everywhere in between. Engaging with them is a duty, relishing them is a gift.

I’ll close with a poem. May it meet you, and your many things, where you are.

A Season of Many Things

Upon the field I stand,
This is the time of tension
The many things command
The limits of my most mortal self.
In that time, when all took the field
We marched with heads high
Banners waving, high heraldry parading
But this was no fair nor
Castle in the air, the enemy is real.
Honor no longer a child’s imagining,
Reality cuts harshly upon virtue.
More than table stakes, blood and soul
Cast upon the battlements of eternity.
This is no invitation, but a challenge –
The calling to lines where things are lost
And the questions of youth
Fade before experience,
Answered at the edge of a finality
That once seemed distant.
This is the season of many things,
The far fields now seen close,
And the scattered wishes of yesterday
Focused into the necessity of today.
The time of preparations complete,
Though never fully prepared –
On we press, driven by obedience.
There can be no shrug or shirk,
No hiding from Providence.
To all, all must be given,
The lion and the lamb must appear
Fiercely humble, leaping and laying
Down before the one thing,
To which all finally conduces.