By: Bethany L.
As part of my summer internship at ETCBC, Pastor Tim encouraged me to read Mark Buchanan’s book Spiritual Rhythm. His book describes one’s spiritual journey through the seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Spring signifies hope and renewal, while summer represents the fullness of the kingdom and an abundance of light. Buchanan goes on to suggest ways for us to learn how to walk with the Spirit as He moves in our lives during these seasons of the heart.
What I found most profound is Buchanan’s idea that we crave balance but actually need rhythm. Everyone seeks balance. Everyone longs for a magical combination of rest and play so that we can find internal peace and, as a result, life will become simple. The problem is that finding this perfect balance is unattainable; we will never achieve a perfect balance in our lives and that’s okay. Since the seasons of the heart are inherently unbalanced, we can’t rely on finding perfect spiritual harmony. What need instead is rhythm – a rhythm to walk with the Holy Spirit as He moves within us through the various seasons.
Over this summer, I struggled with finding a balance of having time for me and spending time with others. Since my schedule was so hectic, I never had time to recharge, quiet down and be still. I felt mentally, physically and spiritually drained. After reading this book, I began to embrace this idea of seeking rhythm rather than balance. I purposely took out snippets of my chaotic day and spent it with God like when I was driving or even at the gym. I found that these moments, where I could calm my heart and come before God amidst my crazy schedule, helped renew me.
Further into the book, Buchanan describes what each season of the heart looks like. The season that struck me the most was summer. Summer, as Buchanan explains, exemplifies the fullness of the Kingdom with all of its beauty and light. The rhythm of summer means to live as if you are already in the Kingdom of Heaven. There are two main concepts to the rhythm of Kingdom living. The first is that it is not hurried. God, Himself, never hurries; there are no deadlines for Him to work against. It is often in the midst of stillness that we can rediscover God’s goodness and His glory.
The second concept to Kingdom living is that it is not worried. As we continue to embrace the rhythm of summer, we will see that “summer is when we walk in the light – we can see, at every step, that God is good, and near and for me.” Therefore, we do not have to live in constant worry but rather we can bask in God’s goodness. Looking back, when I read about these ideas to find rhythm and live in way that is not hurried or worried, God wasn’t simply tapping me on the shoulder to get my attention, rather He was giving me an extravagant wake up call. I needed to wake up and realize that petty things, like stressing about my hectic schedule, were like blindfolds to God’s presence and making me deaf to His voice.
One thing that God has taught me this summer is to fully depend on Him. Buchanan describes what it means to in Christ in this way:
…much and yet nothing depends on me. What depends on me is my tenacious dependence on Christ…I depend on him for exactly everything. If I fail in this one thing, this tenacious dependency, I fail entirely”.
This scary reality is yet another wake up call. As Paul says in Philippians, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13). I can do all things or nothing and this all depends on whether or not I abide in Christ.
Spiritual Rhythm has challenged me to reevaluate my spiritual life in terms of seasons of the heart and how I can navigate them. I aspire to live as Buchanan sums up:
The most effective people who have ever lived on the earth have been the most heavenly minded ones. They simply had nothing to lose in giving themselves wholly to the kingdom of God…