Finding Flow

There is the old idiom “go with the flow” that many of us have heard countless times in our lives. Often, we are reminded of this under situations that are stressful to us. Whether we are in the midst of a situation that may feel foreign, alienating, or we just feely poorly equipped to adequately respond to the given task, this statement often applies. I know in my own life, particularly my studies in chiropractic school, I often encountered experiences such as this as I was exposed to new, and vastly different, techniques. As my knowledge base shifted, and my understanding of anatomy, physiology, biomechanical and neurological function of the human body, and most importantly, the philosophy of chiropractic grew, these challenges became less frequent. In fact, they became opportunities to flourish and grow.

When we are actively engaging this “flow,” we can rephrase the action as “going with the flow.” As Mihayl Csikszentmihalyi describes in his numerous works on a topic called “flow,” when we are actively working in an environment that has certain conditions for success, we may often enter this state of flow. These conditions include: (1) structured goals and specific tasks, (2) an understanding of the skill-set, and the personal fortitude to see the task through, and (3) immediate feedback which allows for shifts in how the individual engages in the task to keep it continuous and uninterrupted.

This concept of “flow” manifests itself in many ways. Have you ever had a day at work where it just seemed to fly by and unbelievably productive? You probably even felt energized at the end of the day, as if it almost required none of your physical energies. I know that for myself, this experience often manifests itself when I am serving through the vehicle of chiropractic. I’ll be adjusting for a few hours, and when I sit down to finish my paperwork at the end of the evening, and actually tally up the number of patients I have seen, I surprise myself. The day seemed effortless, enjoyable, and fulfilling.

When speaking with my mentor two weeks ago, he asked me how I end up in that space while I am adjusting. My answer really came down to “my trust in God.” I notice that the more I trust God in guiding my adjustments (and even my studies in school) the more profound the healings are that occur, the more patients I can serve, and the more filled up I feel at the end of the day. It’s as if we enter into a state of trance, and serve with God’s guidance.

Scripture even supports this idea of “finding flow” (incidentally, also the name of one of Csikszentmihalyi’s books). In John 7:38 Jesus tells us, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” When we are connected to God and the Holy Spirit it is truly a time for God to work through us. As A.W. Tozer points out, our relationship with God is proportional to how often we see God working through us in our lives, and the credit we give to a power not of our own at work. Our belief, understanding and the relationship that we build with God represents our own preparedness to face whatever challenges or situations that may arise.

I would argue that there is a direct relationship between our individual relationships with God and the frequency that we find ourselves in flow. For as the Word of God often states, when we are out of relationship with our Father, the waters dry up. One clear example of this is Psalm 107:

He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who lived there. He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle. They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded fruitful harvest; he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminish. (verses 33-38)

On Sunday at Marietta Vineyard Church I believe that we collectively entered a state of flow and it was testament to the growth that our church is undergoing. While it would be impossible to adequately capture the profoundness of Sunday morning’s worship service, the best way I could describe it would be that we collectively "wrote a song for God.” As Psalm 107 states the vineyards will yield a fruitful harvest and their numbers will greatly increase. While there is the literal translation of increased food, I really feel this verse directly speaks to what is going on in our church.

As Pastor Ron pointed out in his sermon, the more “junk” we remove from our own personal rivers, the deeper our relationship with God will grow (and flow!). I like to think of our church as individual members who are working to clean up their own rivers. And, each of these rivers flows into one larger one, which we collectively define as our church body. As our personal rivers become clearer, stronger and more fertile, our church will exponentially grow in it’s own strength and fertility.