Keep the BeatShembull

DAY 1: KEEP THE BEAT

As a freshman in high school, I wanted to be a band director when I grew up. I started playing the piano when I was young and then learned the saxophone when I reached middle school. By my sophomore year, I was first chair alto sax in the marching and symphonic bands and the lead tenor sax player in the school’s jazz band.

In the summer between tenth and eleventh grades, our marching band traveled to Washington, DC. We had been selected to represent the state of Florida in the annual Independence Day parade in our nation’s capital.

It was an incredibly memorable trip. I visited iconic sites. I toured the Smithsonian. I marched before thousands of spectators. I roomed with my best friends. I got dismissed.

Yep, at the end of the trip, I was expelled from the band program. Apparently, ordering room service after curfew and listening to music instead of the tour guide were no-no’s. And with that, the dream to one day be a band director died.

My favorite part about band—the reason I wanted to become a director—was the conducting. I loved holding the baton and moving my hand in rhythm—down, in, out, up, down, in, out, up—to keep everyone on the right beat as the music was played.

The world is full of natural rhythms too. We see this woven into the creation account recorded in Genesis 1:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

Again, the next day, God spoke, and creation responded, and God called it good.

“And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.”

This pattern was followed each day of that first week of Creation. God established a steady rhythm—a natural cadence—and baked it into the created order for all of eternity.

We observe it in the rhythm of the days—mornings and night, sunrise and sunset—and the way that we navigate these days: sleep then wake, rest then work.

We find it in the rhythm of the seasons—winter, spring, summer, fall—and the way we move within them: sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting.

We feel it in the rhythm of our bodies—breath in, breath out—and the steady pulse of the heartbeat inside our chest.

As humans, we translate this natural rhythmic design into the things that we create. Rhythm is the foundation of our music. We hum a catchy tune, but only a catchy beat makes us move our feet. The cadence of our poetry and rap turns our lonely words into lyrical notes.

When an athlete, musician, or dancer finds that rare place of focus and performance—when they’re in the zone—if we’re present to watch, we are awed by what we see. There is something compelling and beautiful about watching others when they have found their rhythm.

As a young musician, I would often make one of four common errors that would cause me to get out of rhythm: I would either be too fast, too free, too loud, or too weak. And, if we’re honest, most of us would acknowledge that we struggle to keep a steady rhythm in our personal lives. We discover that we have become too fast, too free, too loud, or too weak. We have fallen out of the natural rhythm God intended for us to enjoy. Thankfully, He has given us spiritual practices to get us back in rhythm and to help us keep the beat.

REFLECTION

Do you ever feel like your life is out of rhythm? That you’re living too fast, too free, too loud, or too weak? What would be different if you consistently lived in rhythm and could keep the beat?