A Morning Invitation to Pray with Your Whole Self… and maybe even dance.
For most of us, prayer looks the same every morning: same comfortable chair, same cup of Earl Grey tea, same well-loved Bible, same scribbled-in journal, and that pen that fits just so in our hands. There’s nothing wrong with that. Stepping into the rhythm of faithful, quiet prayer graces the morning with a heart-deep gift.
Yet some mornings my prayer life feels like my body does: a bit stiff, a bit staid, a bit sleepy. Other mornings, the opposite occurs. My mind races, and my body feels jumpy.
Can I tell you a little secret about prayer? You don’t have to sit still.
On those mornings when my body needs motion, I put on my headphones, play a song, stand up, and dance with God.
Trust me, there’s no choreography or talent required. It’s just the Lord and me. I move however my heart, soul, and body want to express to Him in the morning.
I know. Some of you shake your heads. “Me? Dance? You haven’t seen me dance.” You’re right. I haven’t seen you dance…and you haven’t seen me dance either!
Words won’t happen, but movement can’t help but occur. Sitting still and quiet isn’t an option. Even with two left feet, I bow, turn, whirl. I glide, sink, shuffle. I sway. I stomp. I punch the air. I mournfully bend. I beckon God to hear my body’s offerings of exultations, keens, questions, and intercessions.
What if tomorrow morning, before your steaming cup of coffee, before the phone or work issues hook you into scrolling mode, before the to-do list rockets you into running in circles, you danced with God right then?
What if you let your body be part of your prayers? With no rhythm required, would you be willing to dance…just Father, Son, and Spirit, just you, just one song? What might happen when you pray with your body to the Lord who made your body and delights in you?
Long before earbuds and phones, before hymnals and pews, God’s people prayed with their whole bodies.
When we dance, we’re in good company.
Remember what happened after the Israelites walked through the Red Sea? Free at last, Miriam grabbed a tambourine and danced her freedom. Then every woman followed her (Exodus 15:20). Gratitude rose up and poured out of their feet. What a marvel it would have been to be part of that worship dance. Wild, joyful, spontaneous, and fully alive, the women couldn’t sit still with their praise.
Think back to when King David brought the Ark of the Covenant home to Jerusalem. David danced “before the LORD with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:14). He whirled. His wife scolded him for being undignified. His response held his heart’s secret: I wasn’t dancing for you. I was dancing for Him.
That’s the invitation: an audience of One. When we dance before the Lord, He isn’t grading our footwork.
Bring Whatever You’re Carrying
Some mornings I’ll take a spin around the kitchen. “Let them praise His name with dancing” (Psalm 149:3).
Other mornings, I dance with sorrow pulsing through my body. I may move slowly and low: rocking, swaying, simply opening my hands. There is “a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4), and God meets me in the depths of grief.
I weave in other postures as I move. I lift my hands, bow my head, clap, leap, or pause and “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). I enact the words I read, adding hand motions as my feet move as they please.
Before studies confirmed it, C.S. Lewis knew it. Dancing benefits the body, mind, and soul.
“The body ought to pray as well as the soul. Body and soul are both better for it.” – C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm
He also wrote that “joy is the serious business of Heaven.” We can think of our morning dance as a little practice for eternity.
When we dance, it strengthens our bodies, keeps our brains active, and lifts our moods. Yet, we have hesitations, don’t we? No one is watching, yet we still might think:
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- I can’t dance
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- This feels silly
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- Is this even reverent?
Jesus invites us to be like children. Can you remember when you’d spin until you were dizzy? When you’d skip rather than walk, when you’d jump in puddles, leapfrog over and over again with a friend, or launch into your parents’ arms? Playfully imagine dancing like the child you used to be, then give movement during prayer a try.
Remember Psalm 30? Mourning turned into dancing, and dancing turned into thanks: “O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.”
So here’s my invitation. However your dance begins, whether in joy or in tears; let it end in thanksgiving. When the music stops, stand still for a moment, hands open, and tell God thank you. Think of gratitude for breath, for a body that moves, for His presence in your very room, for whatever He’s turned from mourning into dancing in your life.
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” – Psalm 100:4
You don’t have to be a professional dancer to dance with God. You just have to be willing to let Him lead.
So, shall we dance? He’s already holding out his hand.
NEED A PHOTO HERE OF YOU DANCING OR HOLDONG OUT YOUR HAND…
Before You Go: Dance with these questions
- When did you last feel pure, unselfconscious joy?
- What would it mean to pray through dancing for an audience of One?
- Where do you need to let God lead the steps?
- Where would you like God to turn your mourning into dancing?
PLUS, I created a Spotify playlist just for your morning prayer dancing. What songs would you add to this playlist?
