When we first worked through the book Rhythms for Life with our Community Group, we were in the middle of so much change. We had just been married (a pandemic wedding), moved to Surrey, started new work and school endeavors and were navigating life in a pandemic. In the midst of all the change we craved rhythm and connection with God and others—but it hard to envision.  

One afternoon before our group’s Zoom meeting we talked together about the values chapter … with a sense of loss. So much of what we valued—such as hospitality and close friendships—were missing from our lives as we navigated this new world. Living into these values seemed all but unattainable in our season of life. We signed onto the Zoom meeting feeling like we had little to offer to the conversation, and maybe even feeling a bit of guilt.  

But as we began to talk as a group, we soon realized we were very much not alone in our struggle. Together in community, we were able to lament and grieve the values we each missed, name and celebrate values that were lived out, and hope deeply for growth in a way that we could not have while reading the book on our own. Going through it in this gracious community was hard, but made it that much more meaningful.

As we continued through the book and worked on rhythms for our own lives, we found the community process, the reading, and the personal work helped us to begin to find a way to make a meaningful path through the tumultuous world around us.

This happened by taking small steps of deepening our relationship with Christ, ourselves, each other in marriage, and the people around us. But what we’ve found is so special about Rhythms is that the book really has no back cover. Every day we are working through these questions and continuing this adventure. Rhythms for Life has helped us be mindful of this ongoing process that began before we opened the book and will continue for the rest of our lives.  

For example, our life context has now changed since we went through the book, and our rhythms have changed to follow. Rhythms for Life has helped us be intentional about the new practices we have developed while moving back to Vancouver, returning to school, and attending church in-person again. It has also been an important framework for us as we navigate these first years of our marriage, helping us calibrate our married life together towards the life that Christ calls us into. 

Even when it seems like any sort of Rhythm is contextually unattainable, we found working through Rhythms for Life helped us set our hearts in the right direction and lay foundations for deeper life in Christ. Crafting a personal rhythm for life together has helped us survive, and even thrive, in the midst of uprooting, adversity, and all the change in the last few years.