One fall day a few months ago, while sitting outside, I felt a cool faint breeze brush across my face. It was portending the winter to come. It was gentle and comforting. In that brief moment, I felt something else. I suspect it was God’s presence. I was stunned into stillness to ponder my rest in Him….to slow down my hurried life and just be with Him. I pray you and I both have more and more of those moments. …
Category: Hurry
I recently went to a silent retreat for a weekend. Once there, I noticed it was taking quite some time for my body and soul to unwind and slow down. Both finally matched the restful, tranquil and sacred place where I was. Why did it take so long for my body and soul to wind down? Like a car at 160 miles an hour, it took time to literally slow down my thoughts, the pace of my walking and my …
“Because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, [Jesus] said to [his disciples], ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” Mark 6:31-32 …
Note: This blog was written nearly 10 years ago towards the end of 2009. I was thinking of writing about the need to slow down and found this old blog "on slowing down" in my draft outbox. God surely has a sense of humor. I suppose He's still working on this part of me. I once had a customer who was very slow about getting things done. At first, because of his slowness, I thought he didn't care, but I was wrong. …
In my last blog, I suggested that to let go and let God did not mean we were to just stop doing any activity and wait for some mysterious force to solve all our problems. Letting go and letting God is more about letting go of our will, expected outcomes, dreams, impulses, grand ideas, plans and even our very lives. To the modern world the idea of relinquishing control of any part of our lives sounds foolish. If you’re not …
I have a confession to make. I’ve always been the kind of person that acts first and reads directions later. I like to think I’m doing better in this area as I get older but, if I’m honest, I still prefer speed and action over slower, thoughtful effort. As you may know, sometimes doing things this way has negative repercussions. Earlier this spring, when weeds nearly covered our front yard, I decided to go to Lowes to get what I needed – weed …
It’s refreshing to live in a neighborhood with small children. Invariably, sometime around June lemonade stands emerge to serve thirsty adults and children on hot days. If you’re like me however, as a busy adult, I have no time for kids’ lemonade. As I drive by, I usually mumble, “I’m too busy for that”. And then there are the twins…two of the sweet children that live near us – Madison and Amanda. Both have beautiful smiles, are energetic and wave excitedly at me across our side …
As “responsible” leaders and managers, we often place an excessive burden on ourselves to achieve and show a return on investment to those we serve. For nearly all of us, there seems to be no shortage of effort, desire to prove our value or hit the mark. This comes natural to most. After all, God did “put him (Adam) in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” I love work as much as the next person, but, as the …
As humans we tend to spend a lot of time living in the past or future….it seems there is no time for living in the now. We want to argue over or change the past and we want to ‘figure out’ the future. So we often don’t live fully in the present, in the moment. Worry about tomorrow and angst about yesterday take our eyes off the beauty of the here and now. When we don’t live in the present, we …
You probably don’t think much about gravity, but it’s around us all day long. Drop your laptop on your foot and you’ll quickly experience the reality of its unseen power. There’s another unseen power that’s also around us all the time – namely, God. Thinking of God and realizing His presence during the busyness of our days, is hard for us ‘earth-bound’ souls. Like gravity, many of us go through long stretches without many focused thoughts toward God. I am in this mode some …