How Rhythms of Grace Can Help You Thrive in Any Season
Last Monday officially welcomed the autumn season, but this fall has felt anything but routine.
Since August, we’ve started our second year of homeschooling, traveled for three weeks, and thrown a birthday party—all while trying to find a new normal.
On my flight home last week (after my fifth weekend being away since school started), I felt the weight of all the ways I’m falling behind in writing projects, lesson plans, and cleaning my home. Even more, I felt “behind” in my relationship with the Lord.
Anxiety rose as the plane lifted off, and I did what I always do when I feel overwhelmed: I started making a list. I wrote down all the ways I would jump back into everything once I got home.
However, halfway through drafting a habit tracker, the Lord gently reminded me: my relationship with him isn’t another checklist to conquer or appointment to squeeze into my schedule. In a season that already feels out of control, Jesus invites me to abide—to rest in him through small, simple rhythms that bring calm to the rest of my life.
Jesus does not ask us to try to fit him into the margins of our already overloaded days. Instead, he invites us to let him restructure our days around the cross so that he can bear the weight for us.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11:28-30: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” (emphasis added).
Rhythms of grace—practices such as Sabbath, praying, meditating, reading God’s Word, and worshipping—are how Jesus breathes life into our days. They’re not another burden he places on our shoulders, but a way he relieves the burdens we already carry.
Maybe you’re like me, and the autumn breeze has blown in more anxiety and pressures, and you’re unsure where to start. Jesus doesn’t command us to change everything all at once (as many of culture’s self-help books will promote). Instead, he welcomes us to remain in him through gracious, gentle rhythms.
These are a few ways I’ve learned to practice rhythms of grace to help me thrive in my current season of life.
1. Admit the limitations of your season
Often, our frustration over rhythms of grace is because we believe we should practice every discipline in each season of life. That means we’re discouraged when an early-rising toddler keeps us from extended time in God’s Word, when chronic health issues keep our minds from focusing in prayer, or when work schedules prevent us from worshipping with our local church.
We assume that spiritual disciplines are one-size-fits-all, and if we don’t fit in that mold, then abiding in Christ must be impossible for our current season.
But Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses. He welcomes us to abide in him, even amidst extended hospital stays, caring for aging parents, and long work hours. When we admit the limitations of our current seasons, we remove the burden to perform perfectly for Jesus and instead rest in his perfect work for and in us.
2. Identify rhythms for this season
Even as we admit the limitations of our current season, we can begin to structure our days around rhythms that help us to abide in Christ. Instead of focusing on perfectly executing a Bible reading plan or prayer journal entry, we can focus on being present with Christ throughout our day.
Rather than trying to add in every spiritual discipline at once, we can choose a few that help us turn to Christ where we are. When you feel like you’re carrying everything on your own, you can set aside short times to pray throughout your day. When you feel your heart pulled in every direction, you can choose to worship God in creation rather than scroll through social media. When your mind won’t stop spinning, you can put away your earbuds and rest in the silence.
These are not extra things to add to your to-do list. Instead, these are ways you can trade the exhausting rhythms of this world for the life-giving rhythms of abiding in Christ.
3. Adjust when your season changes
Your season will change again. Your children will grow older. Your body and mind will grow weaker. Your work schedule will slow down (or speed up). When grace sets the pace of your life, you can add and remove rhythms of grace depending on your season.
If your mind and schedule begin to open up, you can set aside more time to study God’s Word. If you suddenly find yourself up all night with a newborn, you can spend those moments listening to Scripture. It’s not about practicing it the “right” way but about continually seeking ways to structure your day around abiding in Christ.
As I got off the plane, I knew that I couldn’t flip the switch overnight. It would take time for me to settle into this fall season, but I wanted to intentionally set Christ as the center of our routines.
For now, that means a few quiet moments in his Word in the morning before my kids awake. It means closing social media in the afternoon and sipping my coffee outside and praying for a few minutes. It means leaving my phone in the kitchen so that, in my final moments before I fall asleep, I can give my anxieties to the Lord.
It’s not much, and I hope to rebuild more structure soon. But even now, he’s reminding me my relationship with him isn’t a task to fit in—it’s the very core of my day.
This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series "Reset."