Lent Day 29 - Unforced Rhythms of Grace

When something shows up randomly, powerfully and spontaneously twice in the same day it's time to pay attention. This morning I enjoyed eggs, bacon, great coffee and a deep fried waffle over a deep fried conversation with Randal. Randal is one of my amazing friends. He does really cool things like speaks to a lot of folks, coaches remarkable people, and writes real good stuff. I get to be his friend. Our times together are deep fried rich! In the course of our conversation about life and burdens and stuff he shared this passage out of Eugene Peterson's Message translation of the Bible, "Jesus said, 'Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learned the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.'" (Matthew 11:28-30) The words were like the whipped cream on the waffle. I loved the line about learning the unforced rhythms of grace. I wasn't sure what that looked like, but I would love to learn how to do that.

Later this evening, in our weekly hosting of a group of people also trying to live out the God-life, our reading presented the exact same passage. It was the exact same translation. I payed really close attention. We let the words sit with us for a while and then talked about them and what those words meant to us. Coming to Jesus, who bears burdens, who gives rest, who shows grace, who gives life and lives it out freely and lightly! We had more deep fried conversations about the honesty of our heavy burdened lives and our need for more rest, more grace and more free and light living. We let ourselves take it in and then pray for its reality.

It struck me while we were praying that I was living in the very midst of the unforced rhythms of grace. My time with Randal, my time with my friends this evening, my time wrestling and playing with my boys, my time talking to my wife and seeing the God-life all around me were all moments of the unforced rhythms of grace. It's everywhere! I don't have to force it, achieve it or jump through any special spiritual hoops. I just have to see it for what it is, learn it and live in it. I will come to Jesus and learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

*Randal Smalls just released a new book, Builders and Blockers of Life: Overcoming Obstacles for a Better You