Heaven?

I am secretly, or now not so secretly, obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance. I started last Summer, and this season is even better. I get totally attached to the contestants and I love to watch my favorites. Last night Kevin and I watched the usual fun, pretty, crazy dances. I was unprepared for the most beautiful dance I have ever seen.

The choreographer Mia Michaels is a contemporary dancer/choreographer. I enjoy her work, but I don't always understand it. Last night Lacey and Neil were partnered, and they happen to be two of my favorite dancers. They were given contemporary as a category for one of their two dances.

As Mia began to explain her concept for the dance I felt a knot grow in my throat. She said that she lost her father to lung cancer two years ago, and this dance is based on what she imagines her reunion with her father will be like.

The dance began with Lacey (as Mia) and Neil (as Joe, Mia's dad) spotting each other across the stage. They were dressed in white and there were colourful daisies scattered across the stage. As I watched them embrace, dance, leap, and play I began to cry. I couldn't help it. It was so remarkable. I continued to cry long after the dance had ended.

As a Christian I know I will live eternally, and yet I have feared heaven. Maybe my mind can't wrap around the idea of eternity, or maybe at times I have not been totally convinced that it's really there. I believe it, but I have no context for understanding a place like heaven. I have lost two people in my life who I felt especially attached to. I fear losing Kevin, my parents, my siblings. Sometimes I wish I could hide them all. It is irrational I know, because they all know Christ.

But in this dance it was as though I could imagine each one of them finally resting in Jesus' arms, and what it will be like for me to be reunited with them one by one.

I don't know that this video does it justice, but if you have lost someone you hope to see again, watch this. I know it has comforted me more than I can say.

Dance (with a new link)