What are the rhythms of life? Do you have them? How are they working for you?

As I write this, I am sitting on the shore of Lake Erie. The other night, strong storms passed through the area, and today the waves are crashing against the shore. As I sit, I’m listening and watching, keenly aware of the water’s rhythms. Although the waves are strong, their rhythm has a calming effect. Sitting on a log, I take a few moments to rest and listen. As I listen to the water’s rhythm, I wonder about my own. Like many, I’ve let the tyranny of the urgent interrupt my rhythm of life. Over my 80 years, I haven’t learned to rest or reconnect with healthy rhythms. Perhaps it’s time to start. After all, I’m retired again, and I have the rest of my life before me. What’s stopping me? Habits? Hardwired attitudes and behaviors that seem impossible to break, let alone identify. 

I have learned one thing. I need to chill, slow down, and smell the roses. Or, in this case, listen to the water. There is something captivating about the rhythm of the water. I have learned one thing, though. I sleep with a white-noise machine and have found that I sleep much better. The only time I haven’t used it has been on backpacking trips. I’ve slept well in the middle of the woods, perhaps because the sounds at night have their own rhythm. I suppose, in some sense, we all live out our lives following some sort of rhythm, albeit an unhealthy one. The balance among work, rest, and personal pursuits depends on our inner energy and our ability to sustain it. The greatest problem we all face is that when we put too much energy into our work, rest, or personal pursuits, something will suffer because we run out of time to do it all. Being all out for one thing will leave you unbalanced in the others. A balance or rhythm has been God’s plan since the beginning. Why do we struggle so to find it? Think about it