Rhythm
The Jewish faith is built on a foundation of healthy habits. They’ve been following the same rhythm for years. Why? Because habits don’t require any energy. They just become a part of the pattern of our daily lives. If we get into good habits before we need to use them then when the pressure’s on, when the proverbial hits the fan, when your normal gets swept out from under you, that rhythm you been following will keep you plodding on.
The impact of Coronavirus has certainly messed up our daily rhythms. I used to have to get up and shower then pray for the day, occasionally have breakfast, before heading off to work. Work followed the same pattern every day; start at 9, break at 11, lunch at 1, finish at 5. Now I wake up and the whole day lies ahead of me with so much untapped potential. I’ve written a list of everything I want to do in this time, all the things I said I didn’t have time for over the last few months, all the stuff I longed to do. Having a list is a good start but it’s not really working. It’s more a list of all the possible things I could do with the next 10 weeks rather than a day to day guide to follow. I got no habits for this season.
What I’ve realised is that many of us have a rhythm in life that we’ve been following but we didn’t choose it. It was sort of imposed upon us. It’s not necessarily a negative thing but the rhythm I was following in my life wasn’t the one I chose. It was just the one that was necessary to keep my job and possibly to do the bare minimum each day. But now I’m here, rhythmless because the working day set the pace of my life and I’m starting to realise I want to use this time to change that. I want a new rhythm.
Creating new habits is hard! The internet says that forming habits can take anytime between 21 days and 3 months. Forming new habits takes effort and discipline and a lot of self-control. It requires long term vision, for the mornings when your bed is so warm and cosy and the thought of getting into your lycra and heading out for an early morning bike ride is the last thing on your mind. But it is possible. At the heart of the Gospel is the idea that it’s possible for us to be rewired, the idea that we might go from sinner to saint, the idea that by God’s Spirit we might become more and more like Him, leaving behind our sinful selves, we are being made new.
One of the best Biblical examples of someone who found a rhythm, long before they needed it, is Daniel. When Israel first arrived in Babylon, during their exile, the foreign-ness of the land was palpable. Babylon was known for being a culture hotspot, a mishmash of beliefs and cultures. It was the kind of place where every belief system possible was on offer and if you hadn’t worked out before hand what you knew to be true you might find yourself washed about in the mêlée of different ideas. Exile for the Israelites was the greatest rhythm change, deliberately designed by the Babylonians to make the Israelites forget their identity and their heritage. We might be facing a lack of rhythm, but they were facing a hole change to the foundation they’d built their lives on.
For Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they didn’t just survive the exile they thrived. I think this was down to a few fundamentals that are easy to replicate in our own lives.
Daniel and his friends had habits that they brought with them to Babylon and they did not let up. They decided in advance of the test what the rhythm of their lives would be and they stuck to it. From what they ate to the consistency of their prayers, they had formed healthy habits and in the face of great change they kept in step with the rhythm they’d set years before. Daniel 6 tells us that in the light of the new law set by Nebuchanezzar to only pray to him, Daniel went upstairs to his and “with windows open toward Jerusalem he prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to God.” Even in the face of the threat of death, Daniel held onto the things he knew to be true and practised them daily.
As for the other three, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego showed the same strength of conviction and self-control in the face of death. In Daniel 3, when they are given one last chance to bow down to the king or get thrown into the furnace, they respond, “We do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us… but even if He doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” It might be easy to read that passage and think they are so bold and resilient it would be impossible for us to react like in those circumstances. Whilst I agree that they are bold, I want to suggest that we might also be able to respond that way with practice. You see all they did was decide where their non-negotiables were in advance. How do you build resilience? You plan to. You decide in advance where you’re going to set the boundary. For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego they had reached their non-negotiable and because they had resolved in their hearts that they would not bow down to any other god, they just practiced the habit they’d spent years building.
Daniel surrounded himself with like minded people. I imagine that he had days when he was tempted to sack it all in and conform to the Babylonian rhythm of life but he had three other pals with the same convictions as him who would have carried him through those days and not let him give up. There’s a lot to be said for being in community with other like-minded people when it comes to building up healthy habits. The premise of so many bad habit kicking movements follow this pattern; Weight Watchers, Cross fit, Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s not a new concept but one we are quick to put to one side, preferring to suffer in silence then reach out.
Right now, physical community is not an option so it’s time to get creative about how you stay in touch with like-minded people as you try to build up new healthy habits. You don’t have to have the same goals in mind, just the same motivations. We’re super lucky that this is happening in an age where our phones can connect us to 1000s of people around the world, sometimes all at once! So, make the most of being connected virtually and get some solid pals around you like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, to hold you accountable to your new healthy habits.
Finally, Daniel had a vision. There was more to these established habits and accountability partners than just keeping healthy or making a point about God’s power to save. Daniel’s vision was not just to avoid conforming to Babylon’s way of life, it was to influence it. He wanted to see Babylon take on his rhythm of life, worshipping God daily and refusing to bow down to anything else. When we have an end goal, it’s so much easier to push through the here and now. Daniel wasn’t naïve to believe that he might have that kind of impact on Babylon. In fact, every chapter of Daniel seems to end with some sort of revelation on King Nebuchadnezzar’s part of how good God is and that there is no other God like Him. Just take a look at Daniel 4 to see his change of heart.
We have no idea how long this season of isolation is going to stretch out before us, and we have little influence over that. But what we do have influence over is the how we emerge from it at the other end. What do you hope to have achieved in the coming months? What’s your vision for this time? For you, for your family, for your work, for your relationship with God, for the world? And what rhythm do you need to help you see that come about?
Today is a perfect day to kick the old habits into touch and start building towards some new ones. Time to choose your own rhythm of life that is sustainable over the days and weeks to come, that you can follow when life returns to normal. A rhythm that you decided rather than one that was dictated to you. And as you start to do that, let me remind you of one other excellent place to start; Genesis, where, built into the daily rhythm of life in the garden, God would walk with His people. I want my rhythm to be in step with His.
Lou Callaghan.