natural rhythms by deb kennedy
The key thing I have learned along my journey as a contemplative Christian has been to cultivate spiritual practices that are personal, meaningful and practical. These include a time of quiet meditation each day, walks in nature, lectio divina (or reflective prayerful reading), daily ongoing conversational prayer and recognizing and appreciating the rhythms of days and seasons.
In particular, pausing for four daily rhythms of dawn, day, dusk and dark has become the practice that grounds me. I first learned about this discipline when reading about Benedictine spirituality, a set of rich orderly ways of being developed by St. Benedict in 480 A.D. that remain relevant today. The Benedictines divided the day into seven segments for pause, but four is a manageable number for me.
I have followed Christine Valters Painter’s suggestion and developed a Haiku for each section of the day. These simple 3 line poems – 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables – are easy to write and remember.
Dawn is our call to awaken – the time to give thanks for the new day ahead. The poet Rumi wrote “The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep”. Each day I try to make my first thought one of thanks to God for the day ahead and all that will transpire. My haiku for dawn”
“Hello God, it’s me.
Always we begin again.
Walk with me today.”
Daytime is our productive work time when we follow our interests and activities. In Benedictine thought, work is an important spiritual pillar. At mid-day, it is helpful to pause catch your breath, and once again give thanks for all that you are involved with – work, people, challenges, joys. My mid-day haiku:
“Busy and happy.
Am I present and at peace?
Breathe in. Breathe out. Pray.”
Dusk is the most difficult time for me. I feel a bit anxious and unsettled. It represents the transition from work to night – the releasing of the day when we remember the gentle fall and decline of all things. Quoting Psalm 113 – “From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of God is to be praised.” We honor the descent of day into night. My dusk haiku:
“Time for letting go.
Reflection and savoring.
Finding joy in all”
And finally, it is dark, the time for rest and surrender. “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46).
“Thankful for this day.
I am blessed beyond measure.
Resting now in God.”
Four simple prayers. Four simple pauses. A great reward as a practice. I highly recommend giving this a try for a month. Feel free to use my haikus or, even better, take a pause and write some that are your own. Put them on cards and keep them handy as you begin to use them each day. There are apps that will set a reminder on your phone if helpful. Soon this will be as natural as breathing and as refreshing as a cool spiritual drink of water.