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Every river has its banks.
Every ocean has its shores.
*Deng Ming-Dao. 365 TAO.
Part of the wisdom of the monastic tradition in having a daily rhythm of work, prayer, and rest is living within our limits. This allows a flow that keeps us from investing inordinate time and energy in any one area, thus tempting us to overreach the limits of that area. We can rest too much, work too much, and spend too much time set aside for devotion.
We can live a life of balance and see God in each phase of daily life, fully present and blessing us in whatever we are doing. God is as much present to us in cooking a meal or driving down the road toward the grocery store as in meditation or Scripture reading.
The amount of time in any area depends on the particular calling of one’s life. What is too much work for one person is too little work for another. I am called to live the contemplative life more fully than most persons. That guides me into more time set aside for devotion.
We each are to seek faithfulness to our particular callings, and this shapes the rhythm of our lives. We are not to judge other persons as having less or more faithfulness simply because the rhythm of their lives is not shaped in the way we live our lives. As I admitted in a recent sermon, after noting that I begin each day with an hour to an hour and a half of devotion, that does not fit the rhythm of many person’s lives. We do not seek sameness in pattern of living in the Body of Christ. We seek a like faithfulness. That will appear in a different shape from person to person.
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Paul reminds us that the Center we pattern our lives around is God. This entails being in spiritual community, sharing the life of that Center. Paul writes in Ephesians 6.6, “There is one God. He is the Father of us all. He is over us all. He is the One working through us all. He is the One living in us all” (NLV). I am accountable, then, both to God and the community in how I pattern my daily life.
God ultimately sets the rhythm and limits of our individual lives, and our lives are lived in consciousness of the diversity of how other persons in the Body are called to live their particular callings. Again, Paul in Ephesians 6.7: “However, he has given each one of us a special gift [literally ‘a grace’] through the generosity of Christ” (NLT).
How are you being called to live out your particular calling in the world? How are you shaping your daily rhythm to fulfill that vocation? Is there an area from among prayer ~ which includes all aspects of devotional time set aside ~ , work, and rest that you need to devote more time to? Do you feel the spiritual community you are in understands and respects your rhythm of life? … your particular calling? If not, how might you help it understand the wisdom of the shape of your daily life and how that fits with your vocation within the faith community?
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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