Picture this…
You receive an invite to go for tea at Buckingham Palace, a very prestigious event and one you are unbelievable excited and nervous in equal measures.
You are in a taxi on your way there and you hit London (Pre lockdown) traffic. Stand Still.
The clock on the taxi dashboard keeps clicking on and time is quickly disappearing. Your heart starts pounding as you urge the traffic to move faster, or even just move at all! However, the traffic is slow, very slow, and yet your racing heart is oh so fast!
Here we have a classic example of “inside” and “outside time”– The outside rhythm in this scenario is slow, lethargic almost and the inside rhythm is fast and frantic. I wonder if you have ever experienced this friction of different rhythms at the same time in your life?
My Rhythm…
I’ve been thinking a lot about RHYTHM in the last few weeks- My natural rhythm in life is fast paced and ever changing, it just seems to be the rhythm that I have fallen into with the jobs I have been in in and my personal life (where I always seemed to be on the motor way traveling to a new city each weekend!) However, something I’ve been pondering on is whether this is this my natural rhythm in life? In lockdown #1 I found my rhythm very rapidly slowing and, after coming home from a very busy tour of a new show I was in, it wasn’t something I adjusted to easily- but slowly and surely I found myself sinking into finding a morning routine which nourished my soul and the space in the days allowing creative pondering.
How about now?
Zoom forward (both literally and metaphorically) to lockdown #3 and I find myself in a wonderful position of having multiple creative projects all on the go at the same time with very similar deadlines! As you can imagine, my rhythm is not the same as it was in lockdown #1! I definitely feel as though I am on a bit of a rollercoaster at the moment and the rhythm isn’t necessarily one that I am finding easy to step in time with- it seems to be ever changing and finding the regular beat is proving difficult!
So, this has lead me onto a few questions…
What is my natural rhythm in life?
Can our rhythms change depending on what season we are in?
How do we get in rhythm with God?
Can we teach ourselves to live in a rhythm which isn’t natural to us?
Is it possible to have two different rhythms at the same time?
To be honest, I have so many more questions that I couldn’t put them all down here! So the next few weeks I’m going to be investigating, exploring and hopefully discovering a little more about rhythm and the rhythm God calls us to live in… In a creative way of course!
Anyone up for exploring with me? Sign up to the Nimbus Collective mailing list if you fancy joining me on this journey too.
Martha x
