The Rhythmic Table: Sanctifying Time

Nature is held by its God given rhythms, its sacred rhythms really...the cycle of the day, the week, the month, the season, the year. In our very own bodies we have our biorhythms given. A rhythm of when to eat, to work, to sleep, to....well, do everything really. And we also create rhythms based on these things...in the the last post was mentioned the Liturgy of Hours, a traditional example of the rhythms of prayer following the rhythms of day and season.

Rhythm is critical. Blog friend Natalie and i were discussing "canaryness" recently--how there are folks who, like canaries, are the first to be harmed by a physical or emotional toxin becuase they are impacted by a far smaller amount of it than most. I live with "canaryness" from the EI (environmental illness), HS (highly sensitive nervous system) and the chronic spinal injury, and Natalie's children live with it as well from their asthma and serious allergies. One thing she has noticed with her "little canaries" as she says is that a sense of rhythm is just so important. A daily and yearly rhythm to things, it is a big part of security, which is at the hub of healing for "canaries". In fact canaryness itself is a signal we should be listening to, a telling the world its natural rhythms and needs and such have been ignored and harm is resulting, its simply hitting the canaries first but it will harm us all in the end.

Likewise, rhythm is central really for everyone. Very central. My fiance keeps dropping subtle and not so subtle hints about this stuff. He knows its my biggest weakness. I just can't seem to fall into a rhythm for long, and its something that has to heal...for both our sakes. Once we are married i know there is no way he will be able to live with my lack of rhythm, it would be not only harming me then but him as well.

Yet I have such a hard time with this. Part of the reasons are physical. Its hard to establish rhythms of life when you seem to end up moving around so much. And that has been not only in adult life but as a child too, we were always moving around and there wasnt often a sense rootedness, and when there was it wasnt long enough for the roots to really deepen and take hold. Roots are critical to falling into a rhythm, they are part of security. Then there is the health stuff. I will get into a decent sleeping routine/rhythm for example for awhile and then the pain will get bad again and keep me up and i'm back to day sleeping again, throwing all the rhythms off. When serious pain is just once in a while you can simply slide back to the normal rhythm, but when it is chronic and keeps coming back at many intervals then your "normal" rhythm doesnt get to take root deep enough to begin with. Ditto for the weekly rhythms and such--a certain weekday might be planned as marketing day or baking day or whatever day but then things flare up and you could be seriously homebound or even bedbound, for days or even months depending on how deep the flare up is. This is the reality for some folks, myself included. So the physical side of our roots are very real, and core to establishing a rhythm, and when they are not allowed to deepen it really is a problem for developing a good rhythm.

But there is the emotional side too. I wonder if not falling into a rhythm can also be a way of rebelling in a sense...and rebelling against the natural rhythms God gave us for our bodies and world sure doesnt sound like a good idea. Still, if our own individual biorhythms clash with the broader natural world rhythms in ways then those biorhythms are there for a reason too. So i am really seeking to fall into a good rhythm but I'm not sure quite how yet. As mentioned, even though there are broader natural rhythms there are also personal rhythms within this, personal biorhythms and such, something that has to unfold somehow into a healing rhythm. And then when you are a part of a family then all of your rhythms must come together in a harmonious way somehow too....which will be pretty hard if one of us (ahem me) has not also personally allowed a harmonious rhythm to actually take root to begin with.

Anyway, in turning towards all this stuff about rhythm i've found some really nice simple images for the Liturgical year and day i thought i'd share (below). The first circle is of the year (best pressed for a close up), the second of the day. Our cycles of time, they "hold" us. I am just realizing more and more that a sense of rhythm is a very core thing...

(Images from here and here)