Rate and Rhythm

"What's an EKG?" my sister asked when I told my family that I had learned how to read EKG strips in class yesterday.

"You know, its like that screen that shows your heart rate and rhythm." I used my hand to demonstrate the up and down motion that the line makes as it darts across the screen.

To be honest, I was absolutely fascinated when our professor explained to the class the meaning of the waves on the EKG strips. I knew nothing beforehand, so I was amazed at the explanation and interpretation of that one simple line.

That little dancing line represents the vastly intricate construction of the human heart, including all it's electrical impulses caused by the movement of ions across cell membranes. It involves nodes, conduction, contractions, and timing. It represents the delicate organization and mechanisms of perhaps the most amazing thing God created: the beating human heart.

It has been a while since I thought deeply about the heart and how it actually works. I may be a dorky nursing student, but I find it fascinating and amazing. All we feel is a heart beat in our chests, but that rate and rhythm are intricately designed and delicately sustained by the Master Creator.

Today for the first time, I watched an EKG strip and actually knew what it meant. I saw perfect normal sinus rhythm and thanked God for the amazing accomplishment of a healthy beating heart. I also saw ventricular tachycardia that soon became a solid, straight line on the monitor, which brought tears to my eyes for the first time since nursing school began. I made it through late nights, piles of paperwork, and heavy stress without a single sob, but that one moment brought a stream of emotion that I could not hold back. The rate and rhythm of the heart are not only designed by God, but also sustained by Him. No matter how hard we may try to save a life, the beat of the heart is still in God's hands.

When I see an EKG strip now, I feel an emotion deep within me that consists of amazement, fascination, and conviction. Our hearts beat right now because of one amazing, creative God. Every beat and impulse may originate at the cellular level, but they ultimately originate in heaven itself. Our rates and rhthyms are orchestrated by Him.

That's why I want every beat to count, every pulse to prove, and every impulse to impact how I live for Him. His own rate and rhythm are beating in our very hearts.