Not long ago I
tried being still and listening for God. The two words that came into my mind:
Slow down. Was that from God? I don’t know. But I’ve always had this tendency
to go through life in some sort of unexplainable hurry.
Being a parent
has only magnified that feeling at times. Hurry up and get the kids in bed,
hurry up and get their bath over with, hurry up so we can get here or rush
there. Just gotta get through the grocery shopping or get dinner done. Living
in a perpetual state of urgency. Life can become one giant To Do list that I
have to get through in order to get to some Me time.
Jesus probably
had more to accomplish in His short lifetime than anyone else on earth. Yet we
never read of him rushing here or hurrying there. He was “interruptible” as
someone recently put it. He made time for people.
I think this
hurriedness, this frenzy signifies a lack of faith. We think we have to take
care of every detail or it won’t get done. It takes faith to slow down, to
believe that it will be okay even if we aren’t hurrying a mile a minute, that
everything will get done.
When I can
slow down and live in the present moment, even if it’s something that I don’t
particularly enjoy like grocery shopping, I have a little more peace. I enjoy
life more.
Constantly
rushing through this moment to get to the next doesn’t ever really bring
satisfaction to either moment. Children get this much better than we do. Just
yesterday we were (of course) running late and hurrying to get into the church.
We’re making a beeline to get inside as quickly as possible. What was our son
doing? Admiring the flowers on the way in and showing us a helicopter he found
as he was walking by. He was enjoying the sunny morning and the beauty in front
of him.
Or I get so
caught up in rushing him to get ready for school in the morning that I shut him
up as he’s trying to talk to me about something that happened to him the day
before. It’s not on my agenda right now, so I don’t want to hear it.
Slooowww down. Have a little faith that it
will all get done. And even if it doesn’t, it will be okay. Cherish those
around us through the journey of our day. Take the time to put people first,
our agenda second. Or third. Or fourth. Have a little faith. It will be okay.
Take a lesson from a 10-year-old. Stop and pick up a helicopter on the way into
church. Enjoy the moment in front of us right now. It’s all we really have
anyway.
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Woo hoo. I'm caught up on the challenge. For five minutes anyway.
Woo hoo. I'm caught up on the challenge. For five minutes anyway.
Great S post. Slow down is good advice, I always try and put by an hour everyday to relax.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate it's hard if you have children but it will do them good also if their mother is relaxed. Wished I'd known that when my three were young.
Yvonne/
I have gotten much better at slowing down when I am in the company of others, but still run, run, run on my own!
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you. My lists seem to get longer everyday and I just fret and stress about them all the time. I'm constantly trying to slow down and live in the now and stop planning EVERYTHING. Thanks for the reminder! :)
ReplyDeleteHi, visiting from A-Z challenge.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your post. I have found I slowed down more when I trusted God more. The reason I was so busy, busy was because I thought so much depended on me. I found out it's not. God really doesn't expect as much from us as we expect from us.
Looking forward to more of your writing!
Kathy
http://kathleenmoulton.com
There are times when I just like to turn everything off, lie on the couch, and think or daydream. It's a blessing to be able to do that, it's so good for the soul :-)
ReplyDelete