Toe Pick

Do you remember what 90’s movie is famous for the line, “toe pick?”  

That’s right, The Cutting Edge.  

Wasn’t it such a cute chick flick?  An unlikely pair, a from-the wrong-side-of-the-tracks-hockey player and a boarding-school-bred figure skater, come together as pairs ice skaters.  It makes for nice movie with a happy ending.

This past month, ice dancers, Charlie White and Meryl Davis, became the first Americans to win gold in the Winter Olympics for ice dancing.  Did you watch their performances?  Nearly flawless.  So in step with each other. 

…And they become one flesh.  Genesis 2:24

I have been meditating on this verse for several days now, wondering what it means to be one flesh.  Adam and Eve became one.  Husband and wife are to become one.  Then I watch White and Davis.  Their oneness on the ice is so effortless, which makes it so beautiful. I think if only my husband and I could dance so well together.  Our dancing efforts consist of a lot of stepping on toes and moments of standing still to regroup.   But, it is not just when we dance that we step on toes and need to regroup. No, it is when we live our day-to-day lives.  Moving in step with each other is much like watching Doug and Kate from The Cutting Edge.  Sometimes one of us gets dropped or falls flat on our face or can’t keep up and is left behind or in need of a reminder to use the toe pick.

How do spouses become one?  How do they have greater unity?  How do we dance like White and Davis?

I am not going to go into some long theological commentary on this subject.  That is beyond my abilities.  Instead I’m just going to share some thoughts I gathered from reading about the ice dancing couple, who are not married by the way.

Time

Did you know these two athletes have been skating together for 17 years? Gosh, how old are they?  They have been side by side since they were 10 years old.  Their unity developed through seventeen years of hours on and off the ice.  Our oneness has grown over the years and will continue to do so as we walk together for the years to come.

Goal

I read an article where the pair said there were moments when they wanted to quit but it was a goal, a goal for a gold medal that kept them together.  There are moments in marriage when quitting may seem easier than pressing on, but a goal, a goal for a successful, God-honoring marriage will keep us together.

Choreography

My first thought regarding their unity was, well of course they move so well together because they have choreography, which tells them how to move and where to put the next step.  Of course my marriage could be more in-sync if I had someone to create the choreography.  Well, the truth is someone did choreograph my marriage.  He wrote it out in several places in His book.  1 Corinthians 13 gives me the basic steps, such as patience, kindness, humility, honor, perseverance, protection, and forgiveness.  Basic they may be, but easy they are not.  In ice dancing both partners must learn and practice the choreography, so it is in marriage.  If we want our marriage to look and be beautiful then we both must learn God’s word and practice it.

God wants unity.  He created us from the beginning to be one as he is one with his son and the Holy Spirit.  It is what he wants, so I know it is possible.  But, he doesn’t just want unity in marriages, but among his people as well.  Jesus prays for this.

 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  John 17:20-23

When we are a part of God’s kingdom.  We are all training to be Olympic ice skaters who will beautifully dance united to our goal and reflect God’s glory.  And it won’t be our country’s flag above our heads or around our shoulders, but God’s glory.