Easy Rhythm

​This past weekend I stopped at a big box store to pick up a few items we needed at the house. The day was cold and dreary, with a strong northwest wind that felt as if it might blow even the strongest person over. There had been a rain/snow mix the day prior, and puddles riddled the parking lot–water and ice filling the voids in the asphalt. 

As I sat in my truck putting on my hat and gloves, steeling myself for the cold burst of air that was waiting to greet me, I saw an elderly couple making their way across the parking lot heading into the store. I’m not certain why, but I stopped and watched them for a moment–drawn to the way that they moved together. 

Their heads were down, as if to cut through the stinging wind, and they each had an arm wrapped around the waist of the other. I noticed that one–or maybe both–of them were a little unsteady on their feet. But I also noticed that every time an unsteady step was taken, the pair righted themselves by leaning into one another. 

Just before getting to the front doors of the store, a puddle was in their path. Without missing a beat, the man gently guided the woman around the puddle with nothing more than his wrinkled hand on the small of her back. The woman didn’t fight this gesture, in fact, she leaned into it–the two of them moving together in easy rhythm–the product, I supposed, of years learning to move together. 

Observing that couple move together burst my heart wide open. In their movement across the parking lot that day, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of how the Spirit must work with us. How we are, at times, guided through and even around the obstacles that lay ahead of us. And how, at each turn, we make the choice whether or not we will fight against that guidance, or whether or not we will lean into it. 

In their loving care for each other, I saw the possibilities for steady movement forward when we lean into one another–allowing ourselves to be righted and steadied by those around us. I saw the easy rhythm between them–give and receive, guide and be guided, hold and be held–and I understood that rhythms like that in our lives of faith are not born one random Sunday morning. They, too, are the product of years learning to move together–as one community, one human family, one body of Christ.  

One body who has prayed together for years. One body who has cried together for decades. One body who has celebrated together, weathered storms together, felt lost together, and got found together. One body–composed of a beautiful symphony of people God so loves–serving together, planting together, and tearing down together, learning to move in easy rhythm–together. 

To move in this way takes time. It takes practice. It takes dedication and courage and a willingness to keep showing up. To keep leaning in, maybe not because we need it at this particular moment, but because someone else is relying on us to help steady them. 

I’m not sure where you are today–whether you are someone ready to hold, or someone needing to be held. I’m not sure if life has brought you to a place where you are desperate for a guide, or if it is calling out to you to do some guiding. I don’t know if you are in any position to give of yourself in some way, or if your hands are outstretched simply longing to receive. But I do know that we need each other. Week after week. Year after year. We need each other to help steady us when the cold winds blow. We need each other to gently guide us around the puddles and voids that threaten to swallow us. We need the body of Christ to help each of us move through this thing we call life so that we, too, might find our way into easy rhythm. 

Learning to move together with you,
Pr. Melissa 

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