“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” — Psalm 27:14
Even though we just started a brand new year, believe it or not, January is a bit slow. Over the last few months, we’ve been overwhelmed with back-to-school, fall activities, sports seasons, family gatherings, midterms, holidays, more holidays, and breaks. And now, now that it’s all behind us—we wait. We wait for recitals, for graduations and for summer vacations. We wait to hear back from colleges we applied to. We wait for reviews and evaluations. We wait for our resolutions to pay off. We wait for answers. So even though we just started a brand new year, believe it or not, January is the perfect time to be still—and wait.
Dancers actually have a lot of experience with waiting. We wait in the wings for our cues. We wait at the barre for the combination to begin, and we wait our turn to go across the floor. We wait for the other groups in our class or our scene to perform their sections of choreography. We wait for the curtain to open. We wait for our big break. But just like in life, and just like David in Psalm 27 (where we find this month’s verse), this waiting is not a passive endeavor. We’re keeping our muscles warm. We’re staying flexible. We’re listening to the music. We’re watching our classmates and peers. We’re present on stage, actively holding our position until our cue to move on.
While it might not look like much, there’s work that we do when we wait—and it’s just as important as any skill we might perform. Just like a planted seed might look like plain dirt for weeks at a time, we know the roots are taking shape beneath the surface, the same way we know God is working on our behalf, even when—especially when—we don’t see or hear Him.
For Turning Pointe, a season of waiting came when its new roots were uprooted and faced with the decision to let go or re-pot.
“At the beginning of our season in 2010, Pulpit Rock staff let me know that a school was going to be renting their entire building and that they could no longer accommodate any of my classes on any day for the next season,” studio owner Tina Cook said. “I had told myself that I would keep the business running this way (in a church) until my children were older and possibly out of the house. This was definitely not in my timeline to be out on my own. My kids were 2, 4, and 5 at the time.”
“The first thing I did was pray and wait and wait and pray. I wanted to be sure that it was a definite yes to move ahead or to close down. At first I didn’t get a definite answer either way, and was so scared of the next step. But something I learned during that period of waiting was that I may not get the definitive answer I want, even if I pray and seek the Lord. There may not be a pillar of fire or the Red Sea parting, but there may be a still small voice calling me to take courage and know that if this dream is truly His and I take the next right step, He will be faithful.”
Just as back then, the studio and it’s then-200 students looked for direction—the same way Noah waited for the rain, Daniel waited through the night with a den full of lions, David waited in the cave, and Abraham and Sarah waited for Isaac—this month, as a studio, we prepare together for our seasons of waiting, whatever and whenever they might be. Because we know that our God is always working on our behalf, if we only work in the wait, remaining faithful, and strong in our stillness.
As we wait for our cues, we listen, knowing the teacher doesn’t always talk during the test. As we wait for our counts, we watch, knowing His works aren’t always within our scope of vision. We work in the wait. We refine our faith, our skills, and our patience, finding peace in the promise of Spring. As sure as the well-cultivated seed will sprout, our God has proven Himself faithful to act on behalf of His children time and time again. We can trust that He still acts for his children today. When we think we’re waiting, God is already working.
“I’m so thankful for the waiting, for what I didn’t see coming,” Cook said, “for God working beneath the soil helping our roots grow deep. He provided like only He can.”