Everything about life Is about a rhythm. It’s a cadence, momentum, a tempo, pace, pulse, a beat.
The rotation of the earth, the flow of the ocean waves, the rise and fall of morning and evening, the flow of human blood, the palpitation of the heart, the stroke of seconds, the batting of the eyes, the coordination of new and old breath mixing through the lungs. God has wired all of creation to a rhythm – a flow, tempo, beat.
I hope that you find your life’s rhythm. The place where all of life is in a rhythm – a flow – for you.
Imagine after coming from a great summer break of travel, sleeping and awake at strange hours, watching all sorts of television re-runs, all day movie marathons, and eating pretty much whatever was in sight. Now – the school year has started and you’re just – tired, aggravated, restless, uneven, trying to find – your rhythm.
Or what about when you graduate from college and get a real job and then all of a sudden you discover that the real world doesn’t operate by semesters. It’s a different calendar to contend with. You’ve got to find your rhythm.
Even new parents would agree that life is about rhythm and it’s a truth that babies’ sleep schedules and feeding schedules are not in line with the parents’ schedule. This is about lack of rhythm.
When you find your rhythm, life won’t be such a strain and so stressful. Life would just – flow. The dissonance and awkwardness of out of rhythm people are all around us. Lack of restful sleep, irritable and inconsistent moods are all the expressions and demonstrations of a life that is out of rhythm.
As a former high school drum major, my task was to keep the entire band in sync. If you’re never been in a marching band, you may have never noticed that most bands keep the drum line in the center of the field with woodwinds on one side and brass on the other. This basic positioning is because the drum line would have easy access to watching the drum major and if the drum line was in rhythm, the rest of the band would be as well. Have you ever watched a band when everybody is together? Anyone with an appreciation for order and uniformity gets chills when they see a marching band all in step or a drum line that sounds like one instrument. Wow – it’s an awesome sight. Bands receive rewards, accolades, and recognitions when they are in rhythm. But when they are not – people won’t watch the rest of the show. When a band is not in rhythm, it affects the morale of each individual member, the music sounds horrible, and the presentation doesn’t connect with the audience.
Life is the same way. You are your own drum major. When you find your rhythm, you can concentrate on the things that you have been called to do. It’s a fact, nobody else can do what you’ve been called to do. Nobody else can do what you’ve been gifted to do. As a matter of fact, it’s a slap in God’s face when you attempt to become the exact replica of someone else. It’s an insult to God’s creative engineering when you limit yourself to follow the exact steps of another. Use others as a benchmark of the possibilities of God but never as Gods limitation of your own potential. You will receive rewards, accolades, and recognitions when you are in rhythm. But when you’re not – it’s not a pretty sight. You will take any job, date anybody, chase every new idea, get to the end of your days unfulfilled, spend money on anything, and submit yourself to an on-going list of regrets. I like what Elvis Presley once said, “Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over.”
Stay tuned for Find Your Rhythm – Part 2.