How to find your rhythm
My wife frequently says to me something along these lines ‘as someone who is musical, how do you have no rhythm’? I think her realisation of my lack of rhythm came in the lead-up to our wedding day.
We decided for some reason to surprise our wedding guests, so we had dance lessons for a choreographed first dance to surprise our guests. I had to learn to dance the steps. It was a mix of salsa and rhumba along with some lifts. But I struggled, not because I didn’t want to learn, not because I wasn’t committed, but because I just didn’t have any rhythm. My mind said “Move”, and my body said, “Not like that!”.
Life's Rhythms
I think there is a parallel for many Christians. We know what the steps are for this dance called the Christian life. We know that praying, reading God’s word, fasting, Sabbath and other spiritual disciplines are part of what it means to foster our relationship with God. But we so often struggle with the rhythm, how to make the steps work, and how to incorporate them into the dance of our lives.
The Christian life is not about striving for perfection through what we do. We’re accepted by God because of what Jesus has done.
Keep Dancing
In the end, our first dance at the wedding went off well. I’m not going to pretend it was worthy of the Strictly final, but we certainly surprised our guests! We put the time in, we practised, we laughed, dare, I say, I actually enjoyed it!
And maybe that is the key. The Christian life is not about striving for perfection through what we do. We’re accepted by God because of what Jesus has done.
When we find a rhythm of spiritual practices and spend time, practising and enjoying the presence of God, I think we’ll begin to enjoy it. Because when we dance, we don’t dance alone. Jesus dances with us. He encourages us to keep going, covers our missteps, and lifts us up when we slip. Be encouraged to keep practising, keep focusing on Jesus and keeeeep dancing!
