Last weekend I spoke on Matthew 11:28-30 at a women’s conference. Jesus, under increasing oppostion, extends this invitation to a Galilean crowd oppressed by their religious leadership and Rome:
Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
In The Message, a contemporary rendering of the original languages into that of the modern day, pastor and biblical scholar Eugene Peterson paraphrases Christ’s words: Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
That last line plays in my head like a continous prayer, pushing away the constant challenges of life in this world by sensing and seeing the unforced grace given by God.
And, in turn, to give it.
Learning Unforced Rhythms of Grace
How do I learn them, Lord?
Let me count the ways…
Listening for Your voice
in the cadence of my days
Seeking to still my spirit’s
frenetic beating wings
Perceiving the song
all of Creation sings
Releasing judgment,
not mine to make
Forgiving and forgiven daily,
a flow of give and take
Bearing pain and scars
accrued in life’s syncopated race
Opening my arms, my heart
to YOU, my resting place
Acknowledging the story
pulsing though others’ veins
Knowing You have the final Word
Your sovereign remedy remains
Desiring patterns of peace
in a prosody of embrace, erase…
Walking in step with Your pierced feet, O Lord
I learn unforced rhythms of grace.
Jesus preaching. ideacreammanuela2.
lit bits and pieces 
Fran, my heart so needed this poem and scripture this morning. How did you know? Such a lovely rhyme scheme, and the imagery of the pierced feet and unforced grace in the prosody of life, listening in the cadence of our days, just wow! Such peace here in these words, and more in the living. Thank you, friend!
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Dear Kim… it’s something I needed very much myself, so I thought maybe someone else might, too, hence the posting… so so glad it’s you! ❤️
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Me too, Fran! I needed this post and poem too. Thank you. I copied it and will carry it with me. I like the idea of rhythms of grace. Sometimes I think I will understand Jesus’s teachings all at once. But it’s not like that. It comes slowly with experience, and it changes and it keeps changing. I need to keep in my heart that change is not a bad thing, but a reliable, sturdy, steadfast thing that I can count on and growth with.
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