Rhythm Living in a World of Schedules

I got a bit off my schedule with preparing the house for two visits from family and a friend at different times last week.

The structure I’ve tried to adhere to in relation to writing as my paid job and writing as my self-appointed, unpaid job broke down, as I cleaned and put away the things Ryan and I left neglected. Nothing motivates keeping a clean house like guests.

My mind and plans for the writing and business side of things was overrun with realizations about how long we’ve allowed cat carriers to remain out of place, let books, notebooks, papers, controllers, and earbuds pile on the coffee table, and the millions of other little duties that fall on the shoulders of anyone who lives in a residence, be it apartment or house.

As I’ve heard other writers say, and what was true for me last week, my house is never cleaner than when I have a writing deadline looming over me. Running away from responsibilities is much easier when the person you answer to is yourself, rather than a boss at your place of work.

In the overall scheme of things, the confusion in my days amounted to very little, as a blog post was still written and published, if a little later than I planned. That’s the beauty of rhythm living.

Rhythm living gives you the flexibility to bend to the needs of the day as they arise in your life. For new mothers this might look like fitting writing time into the cracks of your day, whenever and wherever you can find them. For others this might look like making time for what makes you more fully yourself at the end of a long day at work.

This might also look like doing whatever it is you do for you while the lasagna cooks and you have twenty minutes to yourself. Rhythm living looks a lot like giving yourself the grace you need when a timetable simply won’t work in your life at that moment.

We hear the phrase “give yourself grace” and many of us think of cutting ourselves some slack when we can’t get our entire to-do list completed. And to a certain extent, that is true, but the key to rhythm living is not to give yourself so much grace that you never accomplish anything.

I am not giving you an out from housework, the dirty dishes, that last minute assignment from your boss, or any other responsibilities weighing on your shoulders. I’m simply offering a different approach to the ever-extending to-do list we keep.

I know what some of my type-A readers are thinking right now. You might be saying, “But schedules are good! They keep you on track and from being late to work.”

Again, I’m not saying give yourself so much grace in the morning that you snooze your way through the workday.

And you are absolutely right. Schedules are part of life, drilled into us from the moment we enter the school system. In school, we’re taught how to organize our day, some of us, down to the hour. Planners, lists, organizers; they’re a scheduler’s dream.

For those who are work-from-home or stay-at-home people rhythms might mean you have no real schedule. For all the rest, who leave early and come home late, who work hard at a job you may or may not enjoy doing, rhythms might mean having your schedule for part of the day and a rhythm for the other.

Living with established rhythms doesn’t mean you lose your beloved schedule or planner, but it might mean you hold those things with a loosened grip.

The trouble we find ourselves in is when our schedule becomes too strict and we cling so tightly to the security and control we crave that we cannot deviate from it.

Our hearts become closed to the gentle nudges and soft whispers of Jesus the more tightly our fists are clenched around a schedule.

We cling to control out of fear of the vulnerable trust it takes to place our faith in a thing that cannot be controlled.

It goes against our nature to let go. Our homes are full of mementos that help us cling to the past and a time when we had more control in our lives.

But I’m learning the more I can hold my time and schedule with an open hand, the more I’m not tethered to it and the more the rhythms I’ve established flourish.

Let your need for control sit in an open palm and hold your schedule with an open heart, bending your ear for those soft whispers into your life.

Let rhythm living become more important than keeping a schedule, as you make time in the day for what makes you a more true version of yourself.