In our small white frame house the living room was the place where an old upright piano stood. Some people grew up with the focal point of the living room being a TV.
In our house there was no TV, but there was the piano.
Thankfully, our family also came equipped with a piano player.
My brother, who from age 3 had perfect pitch and the ability to make beautiful music.
I spent hours watching his fingers fly over the keys.
Whether it was Mozart, my dad’s favorite Music Box Dancer, or the raucous and delightful Bohemian Rhapsody, it looked effortless.
It wasn’t though. I mean, he was born with music in him and it did seem to come very naturally, but he had to practice.
There was a metronome sitting on the piano.
This fascinated me. He’d set the timing according to what song he was playing.
It was ¾ or ⅞ or whatever. It didn’t matter.
He’d set it and that arm would swing in perfect rhythm.
Tic tic tic tic tic….
His body would start to feel the timing and he’d begin to play. Listening carefully, commanding his fingers and ears to cooperate with each other and the rhythm.
As a little girl. I would set the metronome (when no one was around) to see how fast it would go.
I wondered if any song could be played that quickly.
It was ridiculous and not sustainable, I was told.
I was reminded of this yesterday driving in my car.
A waltz playing on the radio from Richard Strauss.
I was leaning hard into the rhythm, imagining myself in Vienna on the ballroom floor in a gown, swishing around the room, a human metronome.
One two three, one two three, one two three, …
Suddenly, I was transported back to my car when God reminded me of the importance of rhythm.
See, Kaylene?
The pauses and spaces are what makes a waltz, a waltz. Any music needs its space to breathe and become the beauty it was meant to be.
Imagine one long sustained note with no break or a constant beat. That has the charm of a dentist drilling in your mouth. Not pleasant.
But the waltz! So many rests between beautiful notes, in slow and then quick time.
It makes us want to dance!
Let me dance with you today.
Just as my brother was born with this music in him so are we all. We have an inner sense of rhythm built right into us by our Creator.
There is actually an internal master “clock” that coordinates the other clocks in your body. This clock is located in the brain. It’s called the hypothalamus and is located at the base of the brain, where the optic nerves behind each eye cross and meet. It’s made up of thousands of nerve cells that help sync your body’s functions and activities in Circadian rhythm.
Friends! Rhythm is built into us by our Creator!
We were created with the core desire to be in time.
To pay attention to rests and pauses. To listen to our God-given rhythm.
Even, and most especially, in the midst of a pandemic and very uncertain times.
If we do, instead of the endless, rhythmless drone of the drill of life screaming with stressors, our lives can make sense and sustain endlessly beautiful music.
But we need to practice.
We need to engage
Sabbath.
Silence.
Solitude.
These rests, these pauses
The metronome of our lives.
Helping us stay in the dance.
God, help us stay in the dance.