Rhythms of Freedom
Do you feel that there is more freedom to be had in life? Could it be that many of us don’t find this freedom because we lack a spiritual rhythm?
I would like to think that I have something of a good spiritual rhythm. But then I went on a retreat at a Trappist Monastery and learned not only what a spiritual rhythm can look like, but how liberating it can be.
Coming in to the Monastery, I had very high hopes for the weekend. I had wanted to go for some time, and finally I was there to be silent before the Lord. Even though I was excited, there were still some pesky, anxious thoughts floating around inside. “Would it get boring?” Would I just get frustrated and hate the whole experience?” When we checked in at 3 we were given a schedule; 5 prayer services a day, the first at 4am, the last at 7:30pm. Meals were eaten in silence. The first service that we would attend would be the Vespers at 5:20.
In that first service we filed in and did our best to follow along, but we didn’t know what we were doing. The whole thing felt somewhat awkward because it is so foreign. I couldn’t help but look around the entire time and feel out of place. We left that service, ate dinner in silence and then sat in silence some more afterwards. It wasn’t long until the next service began. This one felt less awkward and the Lord said to me “Even in this place, just be yourself. Stop trying to be anything else.”
It was amazing to see over the rest of the weekend how quickly a foreign rhythm can become so precious.
That’s the funny thing about rhythms. The ones that we want are often not the ones that we need. The ones that we need often feel foreign. But it has to feel foreign at first, because it’s giving to us something that we would not otherwise have.
Many of us live with a counterfeit freedom. We do whatever we want or whatever feels right to us. But really this is an enslavement to our own emotions and preferences, to our likes and dislikes. Submitting to a disciplined pattern of life helps us to break free from our emotions and preferences, and rise up into something higher.
As the weekend went on I could see how these rhythms created an anticipation for prayer and worship together. The pace of life there is different, and all of your activity revolves around these times of seeking after God. But the rhythms also lead to something else. Freedom.
From the outside looking in, the services and practices may look rigid and uninviting, the opposite of freedom. We might even think that they do not give God the freedom to move and to speak. I found exactly the opposite to be true. The structure helps us in more ways than we realize. Life is hectic and loud. We are busy and hurried and our minds and soul rarely settle into a place of rest. Even our prayers lives can be filled with noise and anxiety. Because we are left to our own we wonder if we are doing it right. But when our lives are structured and paced around a cadence of prayer and we enter into it together, the noise of the world and our own minds begin to melt away and our souls begin to dance to the music of heaven. We become centered, and are positioned to connect with and receive from the lover of our soul. The silence that you experience becomes an amphitheater for the whispers of God to be heard.
This all proved for me something that I’ve been thinking lately. Spiritual disciplines should simplify our lives, not complicate them. They feel like burdens sometime because, let’s face it, it takes discipline. But every discipline of the Christian life that we use should eventually bring us a simplicity
Leaving the monastery was difficult and a big part of me didn’t want to go. My soul felt so free because I had been so close to God. The rhythm that was set in that place helped me to know God on a deeper level, which will always set us free.
So what does your life of prayer and worship look like? Is it sporadic and inconsistent? I want to encourage everyone who reads this to find a pace and rhythm that helps you to center on the Lord.
Find your rhythm of freedom.
