I\u2019m not talking about whether or not you can play drums (though I \u2018gotta tell you \u2013 they\u2019re really fun). \u00a0I\u2019m talking about God\u2019s gift to all of us, which is the various rhythms built into the cosmos, and into our bodies. \u00a0There are many:<\/p>\n
1. The rhythm of the seasons.<\/strong> The days are palpably shorter. \u00a0Pre-season football has started, and the blueberries are ripe on the lower reaches of the high country. \u00a0The land is ripe, and this ripeness will soon give way to the harvest of autumn, and then the rest of autumn, as darkness overshadows light and invites us inward, to rest.<\/p>\n 2. The rhythm of the day<\/strong>. \u00a0Darkness gives way to light, and for many of us, this is a call to move into the fulness of activity. \u00a0We\u2019ll reach some sort of physical peak in the afternoon, and then begin to wind down again in the evening, as the darkness returns to invite rest.<\/p>\n 3. The rhythm of hunger and eating<\/strong>. \u00a0I\u2019m noticing that when I snack less, I feel better, noticing that if I stop working while I eat, and instead use the time to relax and thoroughly enjoy my food, I feel better.<\/p>\n 4. The rhythm of Sabbath rest<\/strong>. \u00a0We\u2019re called to the gift of work, but we\u2019re also called to the gift of rest.<\/p>\n There are others as well. \u00a0You\u2019ve heard of biorhythms? \u00a0You\u2019ve heard about \u201ca time for everything\u201d in Ecclesiastes 3? \u00a0The world is filled with rhythms of engagement and withdrawal, conflict and resolution, longing and fulfillment, activity and rest, joy and mourning. \u00a0Surely, this is a gift of God.<\/p>\n We mess with these rhythms at our peril, and oh do we mess with them! \u00a0Sometimes I\u2019m not even hungry at mealtime because I\u2019ve been snacking so much. \u00a0Sometimes I can\u2019t get to sleep in the evening because I\u2019ve been working and exercising right up until the moment I need to go to bed. \u00a0This leads to a sleep shortage, which leads to an uptick in caffeine, which leads to me feeling like some sort of deity around 10 in the morning, but some sort of blob of unresponsive tissue around 3 in the afternoon, especially if my lunch was laden with carbs.<\/p>\n As I get older, my body tolerates the violation of these rhythms less and less, and so I\u2019m finding myself more and more committed to some simple principles for staying with the rhythms:<\/p>\n 1. Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. <\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Only eat when hungry <\/strong><\/p>\n 3. take a break from the desk during each section of the day and do something active, if only for a few minutes <\/strong><\/p>\n 4. start the day early enough to have coffee with God<\/strong><\/p>\n 5. take a day off, each week, from writing, studying, and leading my church.<\/p>\n These priorities, which have become more necessary as i\u2019ve gotten older, leave me feeling so much more \u2018integrated\u2019 that I\u2019m asking myself, \u201cwhy didn\u2019t I do these things a lot earlier in life?\u201d \u00a0I can\u2019t turn back the clock, but I can surely share them with you.<\/p>\n One final word. \u00a0I know that lots of these things aren\u2019t possible for many, many people in the world. \u00a0Some professions demand working through the night. \u00a0Some people in poverty, don\u2019t have the luxury of days off, are ven eating whole foods. \u00a0It\u2019s a broken world, and there are many who are far, far, from any sort of shalom.<\/p>\n However, this is a big reason for paying attention to God\u2019s rhythms. \u00a0I\u2019m convinced that if I walk according to those rhythms (which requires some discipline), I\u2019ll have more strength to serve and be a blessing in this world. \u00a0I recently faced a few days when, both because of my schedule and my choices, I was violating all these principles, and the results weren\u2019t pretty. I felt like I was in an x-box game, with lots of stuff coming at me, and me doing nothing more than reacting.<\/p>\n I\u2019m back in the rhythm now, and the difference is big!<\/p>\n What rhythm energizes you the most when you\u2019re \u201cin it\u201d? \u00a0Sleeping\/Waking; \u00a0Exercise\/Rest; \u00a0Socializing\/Solitude?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m not talking about whether or not you can play drums (though I \u2018gotta tell you \u2013 they\u2019re really fun). \u00a0I\u2019m talking about God\u2019s gift to all of us, which is the various rhythms built into the cosmos, and into our bodies. \u00a0There are many: 1. The rhythm of the seasons. The days are palpably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creation","category-rule-of-life"],"yoast_head":"\n