It is 90 plus degrees in my corner of the world. It is a hot day to run. It is a good day to try anyway.
So, as i was running…a bit more slowly this morning….i was reflecting on a question a friend had asked a few days ago. The question arose as she was trying to make sense of the somewhat radical words spoken by Jesus and quoted in his good friend, Matthew’s book….
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting upon you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
My friend asked, “What does “unforced rhythms of grace” mean?
Fabulous question.
So, as i’m running a bit more slowly and heavy this morning….feeling a little like i am lugging an ill fitting backpack stuffed with named and unnamed bricks …it occurs to me that i am wondering the same thing about the mystery of rhythm….especially rhythm flowing with grace….i realized that i am constantly moving within both arenas of discipline and abandon…I run as a sort of discipline but then so often abandon myself to the very thing I had hoped to outrun.
Frustrating…..
But, maybe “unforced rhythm of grace” is that “perfect” (and by perfect I mean the Greek definition of perfect meaning “whole, integrated” – not “Little Miss Perfect”) is that perfect run that seems to naturally, unobtrusively power one to simply empty the unnecessary bricks from one’s back pack so as to lighten the load and run less forced.; less burdened.
If “running one’s race” is to be a mysterious integration of both discipline and abandon then maybe what really matters is why one is disciplined and to whom or what one is abandoned to.
I fear I have often practiced discipline for no other reason than discipline itself…puffing up one’s self just because I ran…with no real finish line in sight. And that sort of discipline did not empty one single brick from my back pack. Nope, it loaded more and more bricks.
And abandon…oh, my….how many times did I choose abandon for the sake of sheer abandon with no thought as to whom and what i was abandoning to only to discover I had abandoned myself right into a big fat hole.
Running, for me, is the closest movement I share with dance. And I am grateful every day that my legs still move and my heart still beats.
But, running forced….running to prove something….or running scared….is absent of the beauty and seemingly effortless flow of dance…of grace. And yet, brilliant dancers dance brilliantly as a result of loving, grace filled discipline that frees them to dance with reckless abandon to the music within.
It is poetry in motion.
It is grace unforced.
It is the perfect integration of discplineandabandon….
Grace doesn’t seem to give a rip about pace or speed or distance. Grace is the music that creates the rhythm that moves my heart that disciplines my legs that abandons my fears and empties the bricks.
Could be that though grace is the most natural gift on earth…it is also sometimes the most illusive….so jesus invites us to watch how he does it….could be that running with just such a partner….one small run at a time….mysteriously joins one out of rhythm runner to one perfectly in rhythm runner blending even the missteps so that, side by side, an unforced, perfect rhythm is created…
and one runs, oh so much lighter….
even in ninety plus degree weather…..
