Learning the Unforced Rhythms of Grace…

“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 on you.”                Matthew 11:29

I came across this version of Matthew 11:29 last week and it literally shook me… but in a very meaningful way!  I’ve been really pushing myself this last month with the house sale, move, memory upon memory and my new life in Oklahoma.  I reached a point yesterday afternoon where I felt like I just couldn’t physically go on any further.  Headache, body ache, heartache… you name it… it ached!

But I stopped and dragged myself up into a chair at the dining room table, opened up my laptop to my Bible Study program and clicked on Matthew 11:29 in The Message paraphrase Bible.  And it was like a sudden shock of fresh air similar to the effect of when I would walk from the green house into the store at the Home Depot in Tulsa, OK where I worked from 2006-2009… when the summer temperatures were 100+ degrees with 90% humidity outside and around 68 degrees inside!  I am not exaggerating one bit when I say it was a SHOCKING EXPERIENCE!

The reality of the “unforced rhythms of (God’s) grace” flowing over and through me had that same effect yesterday.  It was better than a cold sip of Gatorade anytime!

I’ve always had a good sense of rhythm.  I would say that it has to have come from my folks.  It was a funny thing though… My Mom had a beautiful voice and loved to sing, while my Dad couldn’t hold a tune in a bucket – but get them on the dance floor when a 1940’s swing song was playing and the floor cleared as others watched in awe at their smiling faces and graceful moves.  My Mom told the story of the first time they danced at a USO dance in New York during WW2.  She said that she thought that he was "so stuck up" because he hardly talked.  My Dad later confided in her that he was very nervous and counting his steps!

I always thought that I wanted to be a drummer until I tried it for a few months in Jr Hi with a friend’s band and discovered that it was too hard for me to sing and play drums at the same time!  So, singing won out and I took up the guitar!

I always played rhythm guitar in the two bands I was a part of in Jr and Sr high, as well as with the various church praise and worship teams that we were a part of over the years.  I loved the tone and sound of the strings being strummed in cadence to the beat and seemed to have little difficulty with any rhythm pattern.  When Piper got sick though, I seemed to have lost my inspiration… and whatever talent I had and haven’t played now for years.  When I was packing my two guitars a few weeks ago, I sat on the coffee table and attempted to play a couple of familiar songs and found it hard not only to remember the chords but also the rhythmic patterns of the music.

That kind of describes my life since Piper passed nine months ago.  Yesterday seemed to be a zero point, but that verse and the thoughts of God’s “unforced rhythms of grace” snapped me back into a place of expectation and of remembrance for all the “rhythms of grace” that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit had played in Piper’s and my life over the 48 years of our precious time together.  That renewed expectation and those happy remembrances flooded my heart and mind with His JOY and that JOY brought me back to His place of STRENGHT as stated Nehemiah 8:10.

Today I awoke determined to perpetrate His Joy and His peace into every part of every task I take on.  To allow His sweet “unforced rhythms of grace” to drive the tempo of my day… and with each of the seemingly 1 billion things left to do on my “To-Do” list before we drive away this coming Saturday!

How are you doing today?  Is there something that’s attempting to break up the tempo that God wants for you to flow in today?  Well, then take a moment, sit down, take a deep breath, open up your Bible, meditate on His Word and then speak it out so you too can “learn the unforced rhythms of (God’s) grace” for YOUR life… and then DO IT!

Have a good week.  I’ll be on and off the air this week as services get disconnected here and reconnected there.  But I’ll stay in touch as best I can… as I flow in HIS “unforced rhythms of grace”  …along with you!