Slow me down, Lord

[bluidkiti]

"Slow me down, Lord"
I can identify with the plaintive prayer of the poet who cried, "Slow me down, Lord, I'm goin' too fast!" How often we jam our lives so full of projects and duties that we grow weary and disheartened. We lose our enthusiasm and zest for living. Each day becomes an endurance contest, which we survive only to collapse in bed for a few hours, then get up to start the rat race all over again.
We may even be convinced that what we're doing is important -- we can even be in the midst of serving God, doing His work. But if our good works cause us to lose personal contact with Him -- if we don't take time, individually, to communicate with Him -- we're missing it.
Has this ever happened to you?
Then it's time to STOP! Make time in your day to look and listen to God's handiwork around you. Take time to let God speak to you through the wonders of His creation. Don't forget that Jesus himself often took time to go away from the multitudes. He would walk out along the seashore or go up onto a mountain to pray and commune with God. And I'm just sure He took time to look and listen to what was around Him!
If Jesus needed to spend time alone in God's presence, how much more you and I need to do so. Yet, how easy it is to put off our Bible study and cut back on our prayer time until it becomes an empty ritual -- or we lose daily contact with the Lord altogether. God has provided everything we need to fulfill and enrich our lives...and if we're not careful, we can rush right past it all every day.
Summer is vacation season for many people -- perhaps you're planning some time away. Don't make the mistake of scheduling your vacation so full of travel and activities that you come back home needing to rest from your rest! Take time to relax -- be still for a while. Stop! Look! Listen!...and let God recharge your batteries and rejuvenate your mind and spirit.
Hear and obey the words of our Lord in Mark 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.
But don't wait until your vacation to get started. Right now is a good time to re-open the lines of communication with God. Take time every day to enjoy the beautiful things the Lord has placed all around you. Read the Word. Talk to God. Listen for His voice.
I promise you -- when you Stop! Look! and Listen! you will see God as you've never seen Him before. You will hear the voice of the precious Holy Spirit within you who speaks so tenderly and gives such strength! It will change your whole world and make your life a rich and glorious experience again.

SLOW ME DOWN, LORD
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 tensions 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, Lord. --Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Slow me down lord,
I’m going to fast
I can’t tell a friend
When he’s going past
I can’t tell a blessing
When it’s coming my way
Slow me down lord
For another day.
--Author Unknown

Slow me down, Lord!
Steady my hurried pace
With a vision of
the eternal reach of time...
Teach me the art of taking
minute vacations. Of
slowing down
to look at a flower...to chat
with an old friend...or make
a new one...to pat a stray dog...
to watch a spider spin a gossamer web...
to smile at a child...or to read a few
lines from a good book.
Remind me each day
That the race is not always
to the swift;
That there is more to life
than increasing its speed.
Slow me down, Lord!
And inspire me to send
my roots deep
Into the soil of life's
enduring values.
--Orin L. Crain