For April 23rd:

Read Ephesians 4:1-6 “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” Ephesians 4: 3-6 

God’s Tempo: One of my favorite family vacations when I was a little girl was to Callaway Gardens. I experienced the thrill of life under the big watching the “Flying High” Circus show. I was mesmerized by the skill of the swinging trapeze artist as they executed their dynamic tricks swinging from bar to bar. Their movements required precise timing and made me gasp and then “ooh” and “ahh!”  These artists knew the art of synchronization.

What does it mean to be synchronized? Synchronization is a timekeeping mechanism  that keeps a system in unison. The conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time. If the orchestra goes faster than the conductor, the two systems are not in sync. The orchestra will finish before the conductor if the two systems don’t work together on their pace.

In our spiritual life we need to practice synchronization too. We need to be in sync with God’s tempo. He wants us to be one with him – one with the Spirit. God is our conductor who serves to keep our body, mind, and spirit in time. We’re striving to get God’s rhythm. God’s rhythm is the law of growth and rest. We saw his rhythm in creation – 6 days of work and 1 day of rest. God’s rhythm often requires us to slow down in order to get in sync with him.

How do we get ahead of God’s rhythm? How do we get behind God’s rhythm? How do we get our rhythm in sync with God’s?

Sometimes musicians use a metronome in order to establish a consistent tempo.  A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks (beats). These ticks represent a fixed, regular pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion (e.g. pendulum-swing).

What is our metronome? What can we do to understand and get in rhythm with God? In The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale suggests several ways to connect to or understand God’s rhythm

o   Go out on a warm, sunny day and lie down on the earth.

o   Find his rhythm in church by hearing the Word of God and listening to music.

o   Find the rhythm of our work. Listen to the rhythm of the machines of our work: the stove, the air conditioner, the office, the car.

o   Feel your way into the rhythm of God and all his works.

How in the world do we find this rhythm?

o   Relax physically.

o   Conceive your mind as relaxing.

o   Visualize the soul becoming quiet.

o   Pray: “Dear God, you are the source of all energy. You are the source of the energy in the sun, in the atom, in all flesh, in the bloodstream, in the mind. I hereby draw energy from You as from an unlimited source.”

o   Believe you receive energy.

o   Keep in tune with the Infinite.

Dr. Cathy Robbs Turner