Slowly, Slowly

Slowly, Slowly

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

Psalm 127:2

Hurry never brings out the best in me. Heaven help anyone who gets between me and the goal I’m focused on achieving. Trying to squeeze in a trip to the store before picking my daughter up at school, I am tempted to speed. Waiting in line at the polls when I need to be home cooking dinner, I start complaining. Worried that my daughter will miss the school bus, I nag her—hurry, hurry, hurry!

John Ortberg once asked Dallas Willard for advice on how to grow spiritually. The advice Willard gave surprised him, because instead of laying out a complex set of instructions for what John should do, he simply said this: Eliminate all hurry from your life.

Several years ago I traveled to Greece. It was a fascinating trip, despite several mishaps. One woman in our group lost her passport on the concourse in Detroit. Without it, she had to fly right back to Detroit from our stop in Munich, missing the entire trip, a thirtieth anniversary celebration for her and her husband. Another woman broke her ankle on a slippery side street in Athens. And a third person hit his head and shattered his glasses when he stumbled while sightseeing in Rhodes. After the trip, I kept hearing our tour guide’s voice in my mind. One of her favorite sayings continued to roll across my brain. “Slowly, slowly,” she would say as she took us to one ancient site after another, attempting to explain the pace of historical change in that land. It occurred to me that “slowly, slowly” would have been a good mantra for the group to have adopted, perhaps helping us avoid at least some of the mishaps suffered along the way.

What’s your day like today? Filled with meetings? Scheduled to the max? Spinning out of control? Whatever your day, week, month, year, or life looks like right now, take a moment to think about how much more peace you would enjoy if you could find a way to make “slowly, slowly” your own personal mantra.

Lord, I’m not in control of every aspect of my day, but I am in control of some. Show me places in my life where I can slow down. Teach me to eliminate all hurry from my life.