Cadence

Images of drummers and majorettes... memories of uniforms with white pants & tennis shoes. Crowds. Concentration. Keeping the rhythm. Watching the line. Marching in place. Stepping in horse poop. (There were ALWAYS horses in front of the band.) Pride that I was representing something. Satisfaction in a job well done. Exhaustion. Being part of something bigger than myself.

Friend Donna recently shared some facts with me that she heard regarding marching bands. It seems that when the troop approaches a bridge, the drummers stop their beating of the cadence. The band simply walks across the bridge, then picks up their march and continues on. Apparently, the cadence, the continual beat and timbre and marching has been known to cause structural damage to bridges. As the cadence continues, the stability of the bridge is compromised. The bridge could fall. The band's unity of purpose could take out the structure... the underpinning... the stuff holding the constitution of the bridge in place. The cadence could cause the bridge to collapse. Interesting.

As women of strong faith, Donna and I were relating this information to prayer. We happened to be praying together for our little friend Olivia, who recently underwent her second liver transplant. What if we saw our prayers as the cadence? And what if we understood the plans of the enemy as the bridge? What if we continued the cadence of prayer and stood on top of the bridge and continued our outcries to God as a barrage against the underpinnings of the enemy? Would the same hold true? I believe any engineer would have to say yes. I say yes. The Word of God says yes.

However {there's always a catch}... this is not to say that it will come easy. I was in a marching band in high school. Remember the horse poop mentioned earlier? Parades offer up a variety of characters. {Pictures of life here.} Beautiful ladies in snazzy cars. Ridiculous clowns. Flowing band music. Obnoxious air horns. And horses that poop as they walk.

Amid all of this clamoring for attention, the band is somewhere in the foray. Keeping cadence. Fighting the other noises. Individual members who act as one body. Straining to stay in tune. In line. Keeping step... even when it's through the yuck that has passed before them. Never going around it, always through it. Maintaining cadence. Hot and sticky and needing a break. Keeping to their purpose. Maintaining cadence.

I want that determination, and not just when I pray over something as critical as Olivia's healing. I have the ability to pray for a season and stick with an emergency need until it is completed. But what about my daily routine? What about keeping that pattern of prayer just for communion with God? How would my life be different if there were a continual cadence of worship?

I have recently come across several women that are living this way. Donna is one of them. There are a few others that I am watching. I want to be like them - not when I grow up, but now. I want a cadence of worship over my life. I am creating a cadence of worship over my life.

There are still the un-touchable beauties waving around me (sigh) and the goofy clowns running past (another sigh). But I must keep my focus on the One who is directing my destiny. I must maintain a cadence of worship. Even through the yuck. Even when I get tired. Will I slow down? Yes. Will I get weary and lose a day or two? You betcha. Will I get back up and go again? Absolutely. Because I'm surrounding myself with those women. I'm watching them and they have been invited to watch me. We will hold each other up and give an elbow in the ribs when the step gets off or the notes go a bit out of tune. We're in this together.

We're keeping the cadence.

And we look fabulous in our uniforms!