Sacred Rhythm
Life is all about Rhythm. Just about everything we do individually, as a family, as a society genuflect to a certain rhythm. We can not avoid being a part of it. It is inveterate in our spiritual, physical and social D.N.A.
God created our bodies to have a certain biological rhythm called the circadian rhythm. In the increasing demands of our society and the need for people working late nights and early mornings and the advent of artificial light we have been fighting the natural rhythm for our bodies. We are just now beginning to understand the detrimental effect it is having on our bodies. It is truly important for us to listen to the wisdom of our bodies. When we rebel against it we find it beginning to betray us at an accelerating rate. Before we know it we are taking more pills then a nursing home patient.
Rhythm also communicates to us at our deepest soul stirring levels. Rhythm is used to communicate emotions that are a total dichotomy. Anything from peace to war, love to hate, joy to pain. It all can be told in a rhythm. Slow and sanguine is more likely to communicate pain and loss, fast and lively communicates joy and convivial attitude.
When Negro slaves were hoping and praying for relief and release from the toils of life they sang. They sang songs of hope, songs of sorrow. Everything was a way of communicating encouragement and community to one another. When emancipation was not in reach and thousands of slaves risked there lives to go north to safety and freedom they got their direction to safe harbor by listening to the rhythms of the people around them. Songs that came from fellow laborers in the burden of slavery.
Just as God gave our bodies and our minds a rhythm, he gave us a spiritual rhythm as well. We often have to take time and practice listening to the rhythm that God has put in our spirits, but it is there. Some of us are more adept at listening to it, while others of us have to clear everything away and take time to cultivate it. I fall in that category. Something I practice is called Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is simply a way of studying scripture that causes you to study, ponder, listen to and pray from God’s word.
I believe God has given us rhythm in so many things. We are always so busy and driven by our own goals and our own work to keep the potemkin village standing that we do not listen to those around us who can realign our goals, rhythms and priorities into the one rhythm that is most important, our spiritual rhythm. Until we reach that point we will never find that true fulfillment that we so desire. God gave us the desires, we just need to listen to him to provide the answers to those desires.
For a little more light hearted but poignant view here is some classic Fraggle Rock on the subject!
- Thoughts about Life
- Comments(8)
carl, i so appreciate your words about finding sacred rhythm. kirk and i live by a kind of rhythm that’s counterculture to the world around us. sometimes we hole up at home for a whole weekend. sometimes we venture out to find a quiet place . . . only, when we find out that quiet place is not quite as quiet as we expected it to be, we follow the sacred rhythm elsewhere. generally, we live in an attempt to stay in tune to the spirit’s leading us wherever and whenever it moves. i so appreciate when others get this. thank you for sharing!
and this marks my official first comment on your blog. so glad to have met you!
This is why it has been so life-giving to go outside a little bit each day with my cup of tea, journal and bible in hand. It is a rhythm I can even feel in my body. Around 4:00 I get this sense of anticipation for the peace that will soon be offered.
Oh, and I read your comment about Zimbio on Mark’s blog. That is SO great. I don’t think Zimbio alone doubled my traffic. It was more a combination of things. So, what’s your great secret?
Yeah but what if I have no rhythm.
Seriously, this is a very nice and thoughtful piece. I’m featuring it along with a number of pieces at the High Calling today.
http://HighCallingBlogs.org
On another subject, I was actually looking for your obituary piece. Is it still here somewhere? would you send me an email if it is?
Nice post!
Glad you found my blog somehow. (You commented on my post on making coffee.)
I plan to come back to yours…
As a lover of poetry, your thoughts on rhythm really peeked my interest.
In poetry, the meter establishes the beat. And the rhythm is where the poet includes intentional variations on the steady drum of the meter. Those variations receive emphasis because our ear hears them as different from the overall pattern. I’m not sure I’ve explained that well.
In life, that means, the variation in my schedule–like a retreat or a writing conference–receives emphasis in my life because it is different from the normal meter of my life.
You’ve given me a lot to think about here, Carl.
(I especially like the groovy goat-teed fraggle who shows up at 4:00 into the video.)
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