Created for Rhythm
Defeating Daily Disappointments with Rhythms of God’s Peace
It’s a Friday Morning…
and I’m sitting on my bed with the blinds slightly open as the sun peers in, casting shadows on the wall. I can hear the neighbor’s dog barking and the acorns dropping from the oak tree above our house. I imagine the birds floating from tree to tree as the sky brightens and the dew settles on top of the grass before it soaks into the earth.
Everything has a rhythm; everything has a purpose. There is a beautiful harmony to God’s creation, and there is a natural rhythm for His creation to follow.
As I sit here, I realize I haven’t noticed that harmony for a little while now.
I went for a walk the other day – 4.76 miles to be exact. It was mid-day, and the hair in my ponytail stuck to the sweat soaking through my back. It was easy to enjoy being in God’s creation, noticing all the beautiful things He has created as I walked on the trail surrounded by nature.
As my walk got longer, and the sweat-soaking grew larger, there was a shift in my mindset. I began to concentrate on the ache in my ankles as my feet moved up and down. I noticed the cracks in the pavement and the uneven planks on the bridge as I got deeper into the woods on the trail. The trees needed to be trimmed, and the weeds needed to be pulled.
There was so much beauty yet so much imperfection. I found my mind focusing more on the pains of the walk rather than the beauty of the rhythms.
How can I learn to replace fixating frustrations of imperfection to enjoy more peaceful rhythms?
I often busy myself with distractions of cleanliness and perfection. My body naturally pushes for rest, but my mind pushes for accomplishment. My body pushes for routine, but my mind craves achievement. If I can get one more thing done and then have this completed, then life will be ok.
I become lost in a busy cycle of going and doing, not seeing the path ahead because my head is down, striving to get past what’s right in front of me and missing the beauty of what’s around me. I’m only getting glimpses of the scene – like that cracked pavement and the uneven bridge.
We can’t enjoy His creation if we’re running past it with our head down and mind distracted.
We can’t enjoy His creation when we constantly pick at the things we don’t like about ourselves. We can’t enjoy His creation when we use every window of rest in our schedule to dream up more things we can do to accomplish and achieve. We can’t enjoy His creation when we over-analyze and over-dramatize fragile relationships because we’ve convinced ourselves we aren’t worthy of friendship or good relationships.
It’s hard to have a positive perspective when you are stuck in patterns of dissatisfaction.
We convince ourselves, in our pursuit of enjoyment and pleasure, that we aren’t worthy of peaceful rhythms because we have to prove we are enough to be His.
The real question I must ask myself is: What is good busy – the work God calls me to do every day; and what is useless busy – the busy that produces dissatisfaction?
It begins with looking at God’s intention. God set peaceful rhythms for His creation – we are His creation. We were created to find joy in working and resting.
God created rhythms like resting on the Sabbath, taking care of the home, serving your family, etc. He created relational rhythms like the Church meeting together and having family celebrations. And, then He also created personal rhythms like talking to Him daily, reading His Word to understand the way we should live, and living peaceably.
Friend, if only we could stop rushing and look up to see the little moments in our days that Jesus invites us to be a part of. Sometimes we don’t even hear Him asking because we are too busy with all the reasons we are dissatisfied.
How can we enjoy God’s creation today?
God’s creation is perfect. Yes, man messed up perfection, and we are now imperfect. But Christ’s love extends grace so that we don’t need to be perfect to be loved. We only need to set our eyes on our Creator, gaze up, and in peaceful rhythm with our Creator.
Go for a walk today, and take a moment to see the beauty around you. You might just find that it will give you new rhythms and a truth you can cling to.
