Do your rhythms exhaust or restore you? King Solomon’s wise words from Ecclesiates 5 (NLT) give us a template for restoring our rhythms. As many of our churches have caved to culture with loud worship bands, flashing lights, and digital wonders, Solomon advises us “As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut! Don’t be a fool who doesn’t realize that mindless offerings to God are evil…so let your words be few.” I have noticed that I don’t hear God speak when I’m talking.
Let’s go to worship and to work to listen. Slowing our pace and words can facilitate an intentional process of looking for God, listening to God and people, and replacing our anxious striving with reflective living. King Solomon put it bluntly, “Just as being too busy give you nightmares, being a fool makes you a blabbermouth” (Ecc. 5:3) If we take to heart God’s Word, we won’t allow ourselves the luxury to just go through the motions at church, at work, or at home. Instead, we will engage with God, with His Word, and with His people selectively speaking words from our heart.
Instead of telling God and people what we think they want to hear, we are advised to carefully make decisions and promises and quickly do what we say we’ll do. Instead of feeling anxious, ashamed, or guilty for breaking our promises, make fewer promises. As we firm up our boundaries, God and people will experience our words and actions matching, and trust will grow. (Ecc. 5:4-7)
Restoring rhythms is not a complicated process. It involves restraining and redirecting ourselves to more intentional and productive choices. Listen and learn. Say less and do what you say.
I also want to encourage my Spirit-driven friends to honor God with fruitful exercise. When our nightly walks shift to indoor treadmill sessions during the winter, my wife, Sue, prays for so many of you while she treadmills. I treadmill with challenging books that target my change needs. Being a dreamer and a recovering fear-based procrastinator, I’m enjoying daily treadmill sessions with Jon Acuff’s book entitled, Punch fear in the face/Escape Average/Do work that matters. START. Solomon phrased it this way, “Dreaming all the time instead of working is foolishness. And there is ruin in a flood of empty words. Fear God instead.” (v. 7)
As we begin a new year together, I want to encourage you to follow after God’s heart with all of your heart. Pursue and fight for your God-given dreams with daily action steps so you’re living your dream instead of just dreaming to live. Acuff, who travels and speaks for Dave Ramsey’s ministries, put it this way, “A dream you don’t have to fight for isn’t a dream-it’s a nap.”
The more I act on what God leads me to do, the more my confidence grows. The more I listen the more I hear. The more I reflect on my life, the less I do and the more I accomplish. The more I exercise the more my body craves exercise. But when I get tired, I listen to my body and take breaks and power naps that restore my body like nothing else can do.
What are you doing to restore your rhythms?