Following on from my last article entitled Becoming Deliberate, I found myself having many conversations with friends exclaiming how quickly this year is flying by without even a wind sail to hold us back. It’s predictable of course; as the old saying goes “the older you get, the faster the years go.” Some say years are so fast now, by the time they are old they will pass like a blink!
So how do we slow it down?
Slow it down
In one such conversation, my friend was conveying how she often hears these kinds of comments from clients at work. In a profound statement Karen said, “We just need to walk each day in the time that it takes to walk it.” Well, drop the mic!
Expounding this thought we discussed how this could be done in a practical way. Often people’s minds are on what’s coming up next; what needs to be done by a certain time; and what deadline we need to meet. Our thoughts sometimes focus and glue to these obligations like flies to a windscreen leaving little room in our minds for ‘happy thoughts’. We can often rush through the day working towards our tasks and goals, whether they are short term or long term, but along the way, we are in danger of missing so much if we are not aware of what it is we are missing.
Do we really stop to think about the little things? Did we hear the sound of the birds today—did we really stop to listen? Did we take time to stop and smell a beautiful flower and soak in its fragrance? Did we take note of the warm sunshine heating our backs as we walked from one building to another? Did we breathe in deeply the fresh air and take time to look at the sky? Each of these actions may only take a few seconds yet they are easily overlooked if we’re not purposeful in our pursuit of them.
Children know how it works
As a little child, I remember studying the ants on the ground (and felt bad when I ran over one with my trike). I remember putting my three-year old face up to smell a sunflower and found it funny that the flower was as big as my face. I remember the light of the sun hitting my blond toddler-hair and lighting it up like the sun itself and thinking how glorious it felt.
I think the innocent curiosity of children in nature and their surrounds, gets largely lost on us as we grow into adults with responsibilities and obligations taking up so much space in our minds.
Wouldn’t it be nice to meander through life a little more and see these incidental moments as being just as important as the pressing obligations that so easily consume us?
Admiring God’s beautiful creation
God took great delight in creating this world, we can worship him by admiring his handywork.
‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.’ (Psalm chapter 24 verses 1-2)
In this very moment, I look through my window and see a handful of brown leaves being picked up on a breeze; the funny way our sheep twist their jaws as they munch the grass; clouds that look like they may just bring some much needed rain in the near future; and a tiny finch with no idea that somebody just saw it fly erratically from one tree to another. I also see a whole lot of gardening that needs doing, but that can wait.
For now I’m just going to soak in the life around me, breathing in the fresh air while I walk today in the time it takes to walk it without trying to rush it—and remembering that God is the one ‘who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment’ (1 Timothy chapter 6 verse17).
Rebecca and her husband have four children and live on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Rebecca writes for various publications including print, online and commercial. She is the author of two books: ‘First to Forty’ and ‘Pizza and Choir’. For more information you can find Rebecca at: http://www.rebeccamoore.life, Facebook: Rebecca Moore - Author, Instagram: rebeccamoore_author
Rebecca Moore's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/rebecca-moore.html