For months now, my 13-year-old daughter has been talking about this song they really like doing on Wednesday nights during Youth Praise & Worship. It's called Dancing in the Mine Fields. As one who is nearing 40 years old, I brushed it off as one of those weird songs from the next generation. I'm still a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to music, and I tend to ignore anything that is considered music, but falls in the ” hard rock” category. I assumed that this was the case with Dancing in the Mine Fields. The title didn't interest me.
Imagine my surprise, when upon hearing the song for the first time this morning, I discovered that this is not a hard-rock Christian song, but more of a reassuring contemporary Christian, praise and worship song. What's the message behind the song?
“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)
God is always with you. He never leaves you nor forsakes you. Go ahead, walk in faith.
Many times I've written that same theme myself. That's what this song is about. It's a ballad. It starts out as a story, telling how a young man and woman fell love, got engaged, and even though everyone said they were much too young, they got married anyway. They bought their rings at a pawn shop, said their vows and jumped in the deep end of life together through marriage. The story goes on, 15 years later, the man describes how they have had good times and bad, they have sailed through storms and danced through mine fields, yet there are no regrets. He goes on to talk about how one gives their life for another out of love and stands by their side no matter what.
I've heard other stories and commentaries refer to a marriage relationship between a husband and wife being similar to that of God to His children. We, as Christians are often referred to as “the bride of Christ.” Did God not give His one only Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the ultimate price for our sins? Out of love, did God not put our needs and our lives above all else?
In a very loving marriage, we see similar sacrifice as selfish desires and our own goals and dreams may be pushed aside for the benefit of a spouse and or children. However, ask anyone with a good marriage, if they could go back and change things? Would they? Most would say, ” No, I wouldn't change a thing. I have no regrets.”
Why is that? Why do some choose to dance in the mine fields and sail in the storms? The answer is simple, “because of the promise.” God promises His children that He will never leave them nor forsake them. He's always with us.In fact, He says He goes before us. We have no reason to be afraid or discouraged.
Overall, this song, Dancing in the Mine Fields, is a song that tells the young people it's OK. to get married. Don't be afraid of the unknown. There are going to be some rough times, but there's going to be a lot of good times too; and through it all, God will be with you.
Well, with that said, I'm glad this is a song that has touch the hearts of the young people in our youth group. Many of their generation and the 18-25 year old young adults of today are choosing not to get married. They see it as an unnecessary inconvenience in their life, more hassle than it's worth. But as the storyteller goes on to say in the song, there's something about giving your life up for another:
“But to lose your life for another I’ve heard is a good place to begin
Cause the only way to find your life is to lay your own life down
And I believe it’s an easy price for the life that we have found “
This song is about a love story. Through good times and bad, and through thick and then, after fifteen years of marriage, they still love each other, probably more now than they did in the beginning.
I love the bridge to this song.
“So when I lose my way, find me
When I lose loves chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith
to the end of all my days
when I forget my name, remind me
Cause we bear the light of the son of man
So there’s nothing left to fear
So I’ll walk with you in the shadow lands
Till the shadows disappear
Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos baby
I can dance with you”
This song hit me this morning like cupid's arrow in the heart. My husband and I just celebrated 20 years of marriage this past December. This could have been our story. We met when we were very young. I was 12 and he was 14. We married when I was 18 and he was 20. Everyone said the same of us, we were so young. Like most young newlyweds, we struggled through those first years of marriage. In fact, I think we struggled more in this second half of our marriage, 2000-2010, than we did in the first half. If we could, would we change anything about the last 20 years? We've talked about it, but truth be told, all that we have experienced and endured has made us who we are today. Yet, despite some of the difficulties of married life, the good far outweighs the bad and we are stronger now and more in love now than when we were 20 years ago. So would we change anything if we could? No. We'd still choose to dance in the mine fields and sail in the storms holding fast to the promise that no matter what may come, through it all, God is with us.
Dancing In The Mine Fields by Andrew Peterson
This song “snuck up on me” on the radio a few weeks ago. I knew I had to get it on MP3 right away. Thank you, Amy, for helping make it even more real.
Hi, My name is Jessica i am 18 years old and my fiance is 19 about to be 20, I am getting married in a couple of weeks. While the times have been hard due to people saying we are way to young to get married. Its been quite difficult. I am also a dance leader at my church and was googling daily dance devotionals and your article came up because the title is “Dancing in the Mine Fields”. I was not expecting this at all. I decided to go ahead and read it and hear the song. I would just like you to know that it helped me very much and boosted my faith in my soon to be marriage a great deal. THANK YOU for your encouraging words, even thought they weren’t directly to me. God spoke to me in a great way. (: Thank you for your blessing.