(Have) I got rhythm?!

Some, it is said, are born with it. Most Brazillians I’ve met certainly seem to be. Others, like embarrassing uncles at weddings or middle aged politicians on election nights prove with alarming regularity that they very obviously don’t. But regardless of how ‘silky’ or ‘syrupy’ our moves may be there is a rhythm that we would all do well to find and develop.

The French theologian and philospoher Jacques Ellul contends that ‘life is a rhythm of work and rest, engagement and withdrawal, action and reflection.’

Personally I know from experience that a healthy rhythm is not always easy to strike or maintain. My Protestant, Salvationist background with it’s emphasis upon activism and pragmatic involvement has perhaps stymied my created need for rest and reflection. Yet increasingly I’m being made aware of the importance of withdrawal as well as engagemnent as part of a sustainable and balanced tempo of life.

With that in mind for the next week Lisa, Joshua and I are withdrawing (with a couple of jigsaws and some good books) to the Cotswolds.

Taking our lead from the God who ‘on the seventh day, having finished his task, rested from all his work’ [Genesis 2:2) we perhaps need to rediscover a ‘Mars’ work ethic that will help us ‘work, rest and play.’

After all, when it comes to having rhythm as songwriter declares ‘Who could ask for anything more?’