Why is it that we all talk so much about the rhythm of life, but rarely, if ever, dance on the beat?
I love to dance to my own self made rhythm, it's normally made up of the sounds of desire, determination, deadlines, and duty. Come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like a dirge. But it's not an uncommon way to make up a rhythm. We look at our calendar and to do lists and decide how we will move within the time we expect to have, forsaking the rhythm God is singing to us, each and every day, in order to satisfy some ambition of how life is supposed to be.
I know that I do this in small ways, getting that feeling that something should happen today or right this instance. My brain says "You should do the dishes! Look at them! What a mess!"
But then that quiet rhythm says "Wait, this should be done in the morning."
My body agrees and says "It's been a long day, if you make me do that, it's going to take forever AND I'm going to sweat, a lot" The brain keeps telling me to do it but the quiet has pretty much said its peace.
It used to be that I would let my head win, partly because I have suffered from clinical depression and feared that leaving the dishes indicated that I was relapsing. I did notice that my body was not lying when it proclaimed the great length of time it would take and the amount of effort and sweat that would be produced.
On a whim, one day, I decided to listen to the quiet rhythm. I left the dishes in their disarray and decided to do it in the morning. The next morning, the 20 minute night time job took no more than 10 minutes of morning time. Real rhythm beat in that moment.
Since then I have been keeping my ear open to see if there are other rhythms I am missing. Sometimes I find one or two and the way that I feel when I dance to that beat, is a joy that really has no explanation. Because really how do you describe to someone that you left the dishes till the morning and you were glad to wake up to them?
I love to dance to my own self made rhythm, it's normally made up of the sounds of desire, determination, deadlines, and duty. Come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like a dirge. But it's not an uncommon way to make up a rhythm. We look at our calendar and to do lists and decide how we will move within the time we expect to have, forsaking the rhythm God is singing to us, each and every day, in order to satisfy some ambition of how life is supposed to be.
I know that I do this in small ways, getting that feeling that something should happen today or right this instance. My brain says "You should do the dishes! Look at them! What a mess!"
But then that quiet rhythm says "Wait, this should be done in the morning."
My body agrees and says "It's been a long day, if you make me do that, it's going to take forever AND I'm going to sweat, a lot" The brain keeps telling me to do it but the quiet has pretty much said its peace.
It used to be that I would let my head win, partly because I have suffered from clinical depression and feared that leaving the dishes indicated that I was relapsing. I did notice that my body was not lying when it proclaimed the great length of time it would take and the amount of effort and sweat that would be produced.
On a whim, one day, I decided to listen to the quiet rhythm. I left the dishes in their disarray and decided to do it in the morning. The next morning, the 20 minute night time job took no more than 10 minutes of morning time. Real rhythm beat in that moment.
Since then I have been keeping my ear open to see if there are other rhythms I am missing. Sometimes I find one or two and the way that I feel when I dance to that beat, is a joy that really has no explanation. Because really how do you describe to someone that you left the dishes till the morning and you were glad to wake up to them?
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