01/17/2024
This coming Sunday I’m kicking off a new sermon series simply called, “Rhythm.” The older I get the more I understand the importance and value of creating healthy rhythms in life.
If your heart is out of rhythm, it’s called arrythmia. If your car’s engine is out of rhythm, it needs a tune-up. If a basketball team is playing out of rhythm, they are out of sync. Nature has rhythms; we call them seasons. In the creation account, day and evening are marked by the rhythm of the rising and setting sun (Genesis 1:5).
Yet, our culture often defines success as having only one rhythm—BUSYNESS. The busier you are, the better you are. Your value is defined by your success of actions and accumulations.
We are desperate to redefine success. Activity does not always bring productivity. We can spend our days busily buzzing about numerous projects and activities, assuming our work is necessary and useful. Many of us have an innate need to be needed, and thus resting is viewed as wasting. We fail to say, “No,” because we don’t want to be seen as lazy, unimportant, or, even worse, useless.
Many of us have experienced coming to the end of a long day packed with busyness from sunrise to sunset but feeling like we haven’t accomplished anything. Mary O’Connor once wrote, “It’s not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted” (Sacred Rest, 186).
This week we celebrated Martin Luther King Day. Laura and I are grateful for the legacy of Dr. King and the ongoing quest for racial justice and reconciliation. We took the day to celebrate, work, and rest. We were productive in the busyness of (finally) taking down our Christmas decorations (led by the disciplined work of our daughter-in-law), but we were also productive in the business of recreation and rest. Both are restorative in nature and helpful for growth.
Fruitfulness flows out of fallowness. Fallowness is what prepares the soil for productivity leading to harvest. Without this healthy rhythm, the harvest is compromised, and the soil is depleted from a lack of replenishment.
Jesus sent out the disciples to preach and serve, but then called them away to rest and renew (Mark 6:7-32). I pray this New Year is filled with creative, healthy rhythms where activity AND inactivity combine for productivity. Be intentional in your rhythms of work and sabbath, engagement and withdrawal, and times to pray and play all for the glory of God. Then you will discover the true gift of productivity.
Here's my question for you: What can you choose to do and NOT do that will lead you to a healthy rhythm in your life?
