Learning to walk slowly

I have been learning to breathe lately, to take things slowly, to take time to smell the roses...

A couple of weeks ago I had a good chat with a friend who has been dealing with sickness and upheavals in her life. She told me she had been reading a book I gave her over a year ago called, Breathe, and she has been challenged to slow down.

I am naturally a very driven person, and much to my husbands frustration at times, I am hardly every lazy! Mostly that's a good thing, except when it hinders me from stopping! I find it hard to sit still, to dawdle along (just like my eldest daughter loves to do!). When I am walking I need to do it quickly, when I am doing the dishes they have to be done as fast as possible so I can move quickly on to the next task.

One thing I try not to rush though is my interactions with others. I hate having to rush off to meet someone else, to dash off to another appointment etc. It's my family who unfortunately have to suffer with my quickness, my desire for efficiency and organisation! It is such a retraining of the mind, I have to stop and ask myself, why are you rushing?

Moments after my conversation with my friend, I found myself rushing once again. Of course I had good reason to, if I didn't 'hurry' I would be late to pick up kids from kindy, so I had to hurry along my daughter to the car, drive as efficiently (without speeding of course!) as possible, all because I didn't want to put out the kindy teachers who would have to wait a whole 10 minutes with my children because I was late! I felt a bit trapped on this drive home and had a real battle with my flesh and spirit, my flesh would mumble words under my breath when there was a red light, whilst my spirit was saying chill out, don't worry, go slow and enjoy the moment, the drive home with only 1 child in the car!

Now 2 weeks later, my days have still been busy and full, but I am trying to go through them slowly, I am learning how to breathe, my steps are intentionally slower. I am constantly telling myself to take it slow. Especially at those times when the kids are arguing about something, or demanding something from me, I take a deep breath and remind myself that this moment, what they are doing is not an interruption, but it is part of how I need to serve them. I need to train them and teach them to interact respectfully with each other, to ask for things politely etc.

In a book called Your God is too safe I was reminded about how Jesus lived.

Jesus was slow.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, come quickly, come now! Lazarus is dying, demons are wreaking havoc; people are hungry! Jesus, do something, and do it now!

But Jesus just strolls along, talking to this blind beggar showing kindness to that prostitute, taking a nap, eating a meal. As Philip Yancey says, the one person who never suffered from a Messiah Complex - an anxiety about having to fix the world - was the Messiah. Jesus took time and took his time.

I love that last sentence, Jesus took time and took his time. When I think about how it must have been for Jesus, I can't imagine Him ever rushing from one thing to another.

I know that sometimes when I am rushing and hurrying everyone along its because I am not trusting and waiting on God. When I am waiting and trusting I seem to have all the time in the world for my daughter to stop and pick up a bug, and to listen to my son tell me a funny joke. When I am conscious that God is sovereign, that He is in control of everything, when I am trusting Him with all my heart and not leaning on my own understanding of how things are going, I am much more willing to take my time and to enjoy each moment.

So if you notice me rushing or walking fast, please remind me to breathe and walk slower and to put my trust in God.