My dictionary defines rhythm as “movement or procedure with patterned recurrence of a beat, accent or the like.” The score of life is not, or should not be, an endless blur of sixteenth-note intensities. God wants us to follow a recurring pattern of intense work and then rest, intense work and then rest, and so forth. Whatever view one takes of the Sabbath, surely the six days of work and the one day of rest embedded in the creation remain relevant in some sense.
Any routine of life that is unsustainable long-term cannot be of God. He calls us to work. But he also calls us to rest, in order to work most fruitfully. What sets us apart is this. We rest, in order to work; we do not work, in order to rest. We who believe the gospel are not living for the weekend, but for The End. In the meantime, we figure out rhythms of life that make fruitful labor sustainable.
Jani and I have just returned from a week in Chicago celebrating our fortieth anniversary. It was one of those special times when the usual disciplines of life are temporarily suspended for the sake of renewal and celebration. It was a time to sleep in, to buy my wife some nice things, to take it easy, to savor the goodness of God. It really was refreshing.
Now we’re back in Nashville. It’s time again for productive labor. But the rhythm of God-created life will include more moments, on a less grand scale, of restful self-care.
We receive it all from the good hand of God.
