A Time for putting some SLOW in our hurry!

Writer Charles Swindoll once found himself with too many commitments in too few days. He shares “I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, ‘Daddy, I wanna tell you something, and I’ll tell you really fast.’”
“Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, ‘Honey, you can tell me – and you don’t have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly.”
“I’ll never forget her answer. ‘Then listen slowly.’”

Slowly
in the potter’s skillful hands,
our clay takes form.
At times
we’re pulled
and stretched
in ways
that make us
plead,
“Aren’t you finished yet?”
But the potter replies,
“Be patient.
Yield to My touch.
For I am making you
A thing of BEAUTY
in My sight.”

 

Poem: "Slow Me Down, God" by Wilfred Arlan Peterson

Slow me down, God.
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace.
Give me, amidst the day's confusion
the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves and muscles
with the soothing music of singing streams
that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art
of taking minute vacations....
slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend,
to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me
of the fable of the hare and the tortoise;
that the race is not always to the swift;
that there is more to life than measuring its speed.
Let me look up at the branches of the towering oak
and know that ... it grew slowly ... and well.
Inspire me
to send my own roots down deep...
into the soil of life's endearing values...
That I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.
Slow me down, God.