Is It Time to Slow Down?

Lettie Cowman, the writer over a century ago of the devotional Streams in the Desert, told a story about an Englishman who took it upon himself to explore the deep jungles of Africa. He brought with him a plethora of items to keep him company and to allow him his usual style of living.

Because of his abundance of supplies, he hired several men from one of the local villages to carry his goods throughout his trek in the jungle. On the first day all traveled at a swift pace and then rested in the evening. The second day was similar to the first. The Englishman was quite pleased with his progress.

However, on the third day when the Englishman got up eager to begin, he was surprised to find the men of the village sitting in a circle. When the Englishman asked the reason for this slow start and delay, the guide for the trek said, “They are waiting. They can’t move any further until their souls have caught up with their bodies.”

Lettie Cowman completed her devotional with this thought: “This whirling, rushing life which so many of us live does for us what that march did for those poor tribesmen. But here is the difference: They knew what they needed to restore life’s balance; too often we do not.”

Wow! Isn’t it amazing that over a century ago, our culture was considered fast paced? If back then, we were moving too quickly, what does that say for our pace of life now?

Robert Frost wrote a poem, which suggests that we always have choices in life. 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Are we thinking carefully about how we are living our lives?  If we were to choose a path that lets our souls catch up with our bodies, I want to suggest to you…that could make all the difference!

Several years ago, I started doing what I came to call “early morning gardening”.

Early morning gardening is basically time spent, usually early in the morning, out in nature.  And hopefully almost every day.

During “early morning gardening”, I garden.

But it’s not gardening to get the flower beds finished, it’s gardening to spend some time outside.

To have a time of quiet, to listen to the birds singing, to the wind blowing.  It’s a time to see the flowers blooming, to add water to the birdbaths.  To just spend time and to “be”.

Early morning gardening  has to do with slowness of pace and of accomplishing things little by little.  It has to do with taking time to observe… to really look at God’s gift of nature around us… whether it is listening to a bird singing, the different colors of the violets blooming in spring, the unique shape of a pine cone, or feeling the touch of the gentle breeze on my face.

It’s being able to identify birds or bugs or even the seasons by their specific sounds.

It’s a time of quiet.

A time of peace.

A time of joy.

An article in Prevention Magazine from May of 2013 tells us that studies show that as little as five minutes of walking in a natural setting can increase our self-esteem, boost our mood, and slash high blood pressure.  And a 2011 Scottish study found that being outdoors ups mental health benefits by 50% over exercising in a gym.

There’s something to be said about spending regular time out in nature.

Jesus did it.  Scripture tells us that He often withdrew  to lonely places.

I wonder what He did during that time.  And why did He do it?

If Jesus found benefit in withdrawing to a place of quiet in this way.  I’m thinking we might find benefit as well.

Do you remember Aesop’s famous fable about the tortoise and the hare?  How they were both running a race and everyone thought for sure that the hare would easily be the winner?  Why wouldn’t he be?  He had a spring in his step.  He was faster.  He knew for sure he would win…he had the confidence for it.

But if you remember, it was actually the tortoise that won the race!  How could he?  He only walked.  And he walked slowly, at that.  I’m not sure that the tortoise even had any thought that he would win.  We know the results, though!  The tortoise wins!  The hare was a distant second.  And why?

Because, according to the fable, slow and steady wins the race.

Years ago when our kids were younger, we would say this quote:  “Slow and steady wins the race, fast and shaky falls on its face.”  What I hoped our kids would understand was that faster was not always better and that sometimes moving slowly and steadily actually can accomplish more.

Recently, Suzanne told me about a project called the 100 Day Creative Project.  This Creative Project encourages people to pick out some form of creativity and do it for 100 days straight.  Well, I was intrigued by the idea and decided I would like to try the project.  I finally hit on the idea of taking 10 minutes a day to work at organizing in my home office/studio.  It didn’t sound super creative, but it was certainly something that needed to get done.

My studio is a room that I love, but it wasn’t working very well.   You know how it goes.  Office/studio had become office/studio/I have no clue where to put this room.  And instead of having a workable creative space, I basically had a messy storage room.  So, here comes the 10 minute creative project.  I have worked on it now for a little over 30 days.  And the results are definitely going in the right direction.  Some areas of the studio are now remarkably usable.  I know where folders are and paperclips.  I can easily find the dictionary and my journals.  Folders for community work are easy to put my hands on.  Progress!

Don’t get me wrong, it is good thing that this is a 100 day project because there is still much to sort through and organize, but I am finding a quiet joy in seeing this room come closer to being the creative space that I long for it to be.

Slow and steady, in this case, is winning the race!

Hope it makes a difference for you, as well!