Rhythmic Living August 9, 2008

Have you discovered the natural rhythm of your life? Do you cooperate with the cadence your Creator designed for you? When you settle into the natural ebb and flow of your life, you experience optimal living.

Creation testifies of God’s patterns for the world. The tides rise and recede. The sun shines and sleeps. Summer falls to winter and regains her strength in spring. Nature inhales and exhales.

Inhales…..

Exhales…..

Is the beat of your life in sync with creation’s peaceful melody?

Often we recoil at the thought of peacefulness because we mistakenly equate it with boring slowness. Speed, however, does not determine the degree of tranquility in a soul. An internal calmness may be experienced in the midst of intense racing as well as in the midst of motionlessness.

There are times when God calls you to run with all of your strength and energy, to push your mind and body to the extreme. In those moments, He loves watching you use the gifts He gave you. He stands and proudly cheers as you excel at life. But once you cross the finish line, the run is complete and it’s time to stop.

Many of us, however, continue to run. Sometimes we run out of pride, hoping to impress others or maybe even ourselves. Sometimes we run out of fear. Intuitively knowing that if we slow down our lives will come into focus and we may be scared of what we’ll see. But when we ignore the work-rest rhythm God established in the Garden (Genesis 2:2), we no longer function at peak performance. We run out of breath. We trip and fall.

God knows the race we are in and coaches us on how to pace ourselves. When He tells us to run, we should run as to win the prize (I Corinthians 9:24). And when He tells us to stop, we should sit by still waters and allow Him to restore our souls (Psalm 23:2). I pray that we would trust our Heavenly Coach and follow His rhythm for our lives. If we do, we will experience an optimal life filled with internal peace and we’ll breathe easy.