THE BEAT e135 I Will Listen for the Beat of My Savior’s Heart (in every conversation, prayer and teaching)

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 2 Episode 135

THE BEAT | I Will Listen for the Beat of My Savior’s Heart (in every conversation, prayer, teaching)  

Quick Take

Hey human, in this episode we consider the power of rhythm. What it has meant during my work life. And how about 6 insights on rhythm in God’s world to ponder for spiritual growth? A way to affirm my next read-thru of Jesus’ life through eyes of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Apostles who knew his stride. It’s all in e135. Thanks for listening.

 How are you hearing the rhythm of Jesus today?

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

It’s tough to lay these words down for you today. Because they are deeply personal, no, they are deeply precious to me. I am the most full of joy in the center of it. I am completely myself in the middle of it. I am inspired by where it takes me. I am lost without it. I look for it everywhere. In everything.

I am talking about rhythm.

I did not start dancing until I was in high school, really. A little twirling with a $1.25 baton in grade school, but dancing, no. Maybe some gym sessions with a bunch of other goofy sweaty middle schoolers learning how to dance to songs we didn’t much like. And I was a one-hit cheerleader in 8^th grade. Not really my thing, though.

But in high school I made a performance dance team and was also in P.E.L.S. (which stands for physical education leaders of tomorrow) with Kiki Caponi, our teacher. I loved learning dance moves in the gym, the team spirit of it all, and the best of all feelings, standing on the sidelines ready to take the floor or field to perform together. Simply, a rhythmic high.

When I auditioned for the school musical my junior year, The Music Man, everything changed for me. Dance became a real passion. It was a competitive audition for 6 couple spots. 12 dancers. Many rounds and eliminations. That was my first experience with stage work, and this was a big production, performed at Kingsbury Hall for several nights. Working with a professional choreographer, doing couples work. I got the bug, not only for stage performing, but the whole production aspect, the process of how a choreographer works with the dancers, the night after rehearsal night, dress rehearsals. I learned all about creative camaraderie.

From high school I went on to a college dance team in Texas, then began doing choreography and traveling with the USA Foundation, teaching dance camps in the Western United States. I also did choreography for back-up dancers for Donny Osmond, Marie Osmond and other celebrity headliners for the Freedom Festival, produced and hosted by the Osmond family every Fourth of July. A whole lotta stories there. And a whole lotta rhythm.

All to say, long, intense hours in a studio, on a field, on a raised platform, leading warm-ups, teaching, with the rhythm of counting, the driving beat of a song, and the synergy that comes from walking through a combination, then with music full-out. Very long days ending with the most amazing feeling. Being bone tired. Sweat-drenched. And full of joy. Because I had given the art, the students, the music my all. There is a phrase that describes what a dancer aspires to called “dancing from the inside out.” I used to tell students that it should look like the music is coming out of you with your movements. Feel the beat.

I lived to that rhythm for about 14 years. So many connections, people I have tracked who stayed in the dance industry. Super good times.

Work, It Has a Rhythm

Then, I switched to the nonprofit industry as a communications director, and soon after a fund development executive. Probably not a surprise, but as I dug into this new lifestyle, I looked for, worked hard on finding a rhythm to my work. The rhythm of chairs, screens, meetings, and projects. How to aspire to that bone-tired feeling when so much of what I did was mental, not physical.

It always started with my commute. It always started early, whether driving, or public transportation. A commute rhythm, both physical and mental, a “hitting your stride” early in the day, and finding the rhythm in team collaborations, and copywriting for the latest annual appeal, or hitting a new work sequence that makes more sense, all again, about the rhythm. The rhythm of producing an event. And just the rhythm of this alone: writing, editing, writing some more, proofing, editing, and more writing.

And the best, finding an inspiring relationship rhythm with 1 or 2 colleagues that make all the rest of the relationships ok, at whatever pace.

Some days had a driving pace that invited me in, and some days had a driving pace that tried to stay out ahead of me. I looked for work rhythms; I heard them, I felt them, I listened to them for nearly 30 years.

Rhythm is My Mantra

Then, I retired to write, no, I rewired to write. And find that rhythm that relied only on me. And God. I realized how important rhythm has always been to me. I look for the beat in every conversation, for what gives it momentum. I look for tempo in the morning, noon and night. Pace is important to me minute by minute. I monitor it well. And I invite syncopation, that irregular way life takes me by surprise. Maybe a new friend that has an irregular stride, but one I have known all along.

I am not a hurried person. Ok, I’m a little impatient with slow talkers. I am just always looking for the beat. And now, the spiritual beat.

God’s World is Set By His Divine Rhythm

When I think about how God’s world is set by his divine rhythm, I am sure we can grow from this. That’s why I named Season 2 The Beat. It is exactly where we need to be right now. Turning to God for the beat.

Consider these scriptures by the rhythm they bring to how we live our spiritual lives. As these came to mind, I was surprised I didn’t land on any about the heart. Seems obvious since we all have a heartbeat. I didn’t seek it out today. These six scriptures are kindling for the rhythm fire. A few insights to begin thinking about how these rhymical processes impact your daily spiritual life.

1. The rhythm of breathing

Genesis 2:7

 

7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

2. The rhythm of divine rest

Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 

3. The rhythm of righteousness

1 John 1:9

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

4. The rhythm of transformation

Romans 12:2

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

5. The rhythm of seeking

Chronicles 16:11

11 Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.

6. The rhythm of the living water

John 7:38

38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

 

I Will Listen for the Beat of My Savior’s Heart

I have shared a little about the rhythm of my passion for dance from my teenage years to adulthood, and the threshold to switching careers. Then, the rhythm of work, of living a mission, of sharing a vision, of just how to rise and prepare physically and mentally for the day. To navigate and find the “groove” in a workday.

And now the rhythm of being rewired for a different work, something of a solo act with God. Finally, the here and right now. The here and right now of following the rhythm of Jesus through the eyes of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It has everything to do with the rhythm of my soul, my spirit, my walk, embedded in the stride of the Son of man, the Son of God.

I am about to start my annual read-thru of the New Testament, having just completed the Old Testament on Easter Sunday. I have been praying for God’s focus. I think it is this: following the beat of a risen Savior and those who came immediately after to establish the early church.

That I set my ear toward…

The cadence of my Savior’s step.

The rhythm between the Heavenly Father and his Son.

The pleading beat the Son heard from within all those who approached him for healing.

The angry tempo the Son heard from within all those who persecuted him.

I will listen for the beat of my Savior’s heart in every conversation, every prayer, every teaching.

Every.

God turns my heart toward his Son, so I can hear it when he says, “follow me.” Jesus is the only one who can say that. He is the only one to match stride for stride, yes, human? Because finding the one who is lost on a detour, lost in another world all together, lost in focus, lost in life’s purpose, lost in a deadly rhythm that is not God—well, finding that one happens when we fall in step with the Shepherd.