Ebb and Flow

Discovering the rhythms of the abiding life

Rhythms help us keep in time to a tune, our toes tapping with each beat. They also help us move in step with our Father, our hearts beating in cadence with His. So, when we set out to abide in Christ, we’re seeking rhythms that keep us one with Him (John 15:4).

While abiding rhythms enable us to align our hearts and minds with God's, they aren’t meant to be treated as more things to do—like checklists or achievements. Rather, they’re to be stepped into, easing us into a willingness to spend time in God’s presence, to be shaped by His nearness.

We can't sustain a twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week quiet time. Rather, there's an ebb and flow in our spiritual lives—just as there is in nature. Seasons. Tides. Waves. Rhythms of fruitfulness and rest, of depth and shallowness, of embracing and releasing.

Our physical lives reflect these natural rhythms. And so should our spiritual lives. Spiritually speaking, we’re meant to embody the same rise and fall as nature, as life.

We ebb, releasing all our sins to our Father.

We flow, re-entering life renewed with forgiveness.

We ebb, pouring out our fears to Jesus.

We flow, stepping into the day gifted with perfect love.

We ebb, worshipping God with fervent words and tunes.

We flow, moving through the moment recentred, refocused.

We ebb, soaking in Scripture, giving it room to do its work in us.

We flow, spreading its truth and light into the people around us.

And so it is that God calls us to recognise there is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1)—even in the context of our spiritual rhythms.

Friends, we don’t have to do it all, all the time. Rather, we can allow Holy Spirit to guide us step by toe-tapping step into an abiding life of rhythm. And as we do, we’ll find that we seek Him more often, hear His voice more clearly, and trust His ways more fully. His ebb and flow way brings us into the rhythm of His own heart, making us one with Him.