But what do we want our new “new normal” – our chosen new normal – to look like? Which activities do we want to resume, and which are we just as happy without? How safe (or not) do we feel in larger groups of unrelated people? What grief do we have yet to process? What joy do we yearn for? How do we cope with the uncertainty that now seems to be part of our lives?
For me, the answer to all of those questions comes from Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message paraphrase):
What an evocative and spacious phrase: “the unforced rhythms of grace.” What would that look like for you? What would that feel like? What would it make possible?
For me, while I have much to learn yet about those unforced rhythms of grace, what I have learned so far is that I need to take time to take care of my body, allow myself to rest, and keep my focus on people more than projects. And what I also know is that those are generally the first things to go when I start getting “busy” or feeling pressured, so I need to keep my attention on them.
Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
The only way I have found to live anywhere in the vicinity of “freely and lightly” is to keep looking in the direction of love, connection and grace, and to keep making space in my life – from 20 minutes in the morning to the pause of a breath multiple times a day – to shift my focus from “doing” back to “being,” from “problem” to “opportunity for grace,” from racing to get things done to listening for how things want to unfold, from focusing on what’s missing to focusing on what I can do, share and enjoy with what I already have.
What about you? What would it be like for you to live “freely and lightly” – if only for an hour? What would it be like to move through the day in “the unforced rhythms of grace”? What would it be like to consider the “unforced rhythms of grace” as you head toward “re-entry”?
Invitation to Action:
by Heart Light Digital