5 MINUTE FRIDAYS - RHYTHM

It's 5 Minute Friday - where you can join Lisa Jo Baker here and a lot of other writers and write for 5 minutes on a word prompt. No editing. No second guessing - just writing. Today's word is rhythm.

When I was little, all I really wanted to do was dance. I bounced in those little plastic booster seats at Pizza Hut to the music playing from the jute box. I tapped my way across our front entry way - leaving little black scuff marks from my patent leather shoes (much to my mother's annoyance since she was the one who had to clean them up).

When I was about 3 years old, I calmly informed the pastor's wife at the church we were visiting in, having just moved to town, that when I grew up, I wanted to smoke and be a dancer.

My poor mother was mortified - even though we laugh about it now.

It seemed to me that life was full of rhythm. It seemed to rise up from the soles of my feet and I could hardly keep myself still.

Although I never took dancing lessons (not for want of begging either), intricate steps never really mattered to me.

It wasn't ever about the steps though - it was about feeling the music inside of me and letting it flow out. If I tried to concentrate too hard on steps or what I should be doing, I lost the rhythm.

I find this to be true in many things in life - my writing, my walk with God, my relationships.

When I try to force certain steps on the outside, I lose my way. Walking in the Spirit, which is the only way I can live this life with any thing resembling victory, involves being moved from the inside out, not forcing specific rules and breaking the rhythm the Holy Spirit builds in each of us.

While there are certainly Biblical absolutes, my God has a unique rhythm He created for each of us. Let's not lose our rhythm trying to follow someone else's steps.

~ blessings, Bronte