Episode 114 - Calling the Changes

Life is full of new experiences. Things that we never imagined we’d do yet somehow find ourselves doing. A couple of weekends ago I found myself doing something for the very first time; calling a Ceilidh – that is to say shouting out the instructions to a bunch of dances whilst the music plays. Whilst I’ve been to many Ceilidhs before I have no idea how to lead one, I don’t even know how the dances go, after all, that’s what the caller is for! However, the incredible thing about being the caller of Ceilidh is that it never occurs to the dancers to question what the caller is saying even when he has no idea what he’s doing! It was amazing! Whatever I said they would do! I could have said anything! Even things that didn’t make sense – and I did with surprising regularity, and yet they still tried to follow as I lead.

I should at this point say that despite the description I’m about to give which probably sounds more like a scene from a post-apocalyptic thriller than a party, we did all have a tremendous amount of fun, myself included. I’m not going to lie, there was a tremendous sense of power and authority standing behind that microphone and watching as everyone did as I told them. In some ways I felt like a God. And yet despite my subjects wholehearted attempts to do as I pleased (or perhaps because of this), the dances still upon occasion descended into anarchy and chaos as the dancers got themselves into all sorts of messes. I knew what I wanted them to do and yet so often they weren’t doing it! I must confess that this was usually because of my inability to communicate the dances clearly, however it wasn’t always my fault!

As I stood there barking out orders I began to realise that there were many things that caused my dear friends to stray from the instructions I was giving out. There were all of the distractions of everyone around them. There was the noise which made it difficult to hear. There were the obstacles on the dance floor; stray shoes and fallen bodies. There were other dancers who were getting it wrong and trying to encourage others to follow them. There were hecklers and there was the frustration of “just not getting it”. “If only they could keep hold of what I was saying”, I thought. Then I wondered if that’s how God feels about me as I dance my way through life.