Sloooowwwing Dooowwwn
From The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan:
"Someone asked me recently what was my biggest regret in life. I thought a moment, surveying the vast and cluttered landscape of my blunders and losses, the evil I have done and the evil that's been done against me.
"Being in a hurry," I said.
"Pardon?"
"Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all that rushing."Through all that haste, I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away."
It turns out I was throwing it away.
Unfortunately, this is a regret that I too can claim.
For example, I found one of the biggest motivating factors for Iris to learn how to tell time was so she could remind me of when we needed to be somewhere - hoping to warn her mama early enough that we could get there "on time."
Another time I get smacked in the heart with this one is when I'm zipping my dear boy's coat and he asks in his s-l-o-w a-n-d e-v-e-n n-e-v-e-r r-u-s-h-i-n-g w-a-y "Mommy, are we in a hurry today?" Poor sweet boy, always pulled and tugged along behind his ever busy mother and sister....
And then I get another reminder. And another.
Oh, wait, there's one more.
And then a stroll through my book of quotes:
"The quieter you become the more you can hear." ~ Ram Dass
"Learn to pause... or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you." ~ Doug King
"In the rush and noise of life, as you have intervals, be still. Wait upon God and feel his good presence; this will carry you evenly through your day's business." ~ William Penn
"Daily I live with one fear - a healthy fear if there is such a thing. It is that I will miss something God has for me in this life. And it is mind-expanding to contemplate all that He wants me to have. I don't want to be robbed of even one of God's riches by not taking time to let Him invade my life. By not listening to what He is telling me. By allowing the routine, pressing matters of my minutes to bankrupt me of time for the most exciting, most fulfilling relationship in life." ~ Carole Mayhall
"Whoever is in a hurry shows that the thing he is about is too big for him." ~ Lord Chesterfield
"God made time, but man made haste." ~ Irish Proverb
"Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset." ~ St. Francis de Sales
"We cannot solve the problem of time through the conquest of space, through either pyramids or fame. We can only solve the problem of time through the sanctification of time. To men alone time is elusive; to men with God time is eternity in disguise." ~ Abraham Heschel, Sabbath
"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God." ~ Jim Elliot
And then I come across people in blog-land that have no choice but to take life one breath at a time. People like family of Audrey Caroline.
Point taken.
So, if you'll excuse me, I have some children that need snuggling, some dishes that need washing, and some moments that need savoring....
