Time for a Slow Down

We've made it! It is the time of year when those of you not in southeast Texas can probably hear all of us down here rejoicing, for the long summer is past and autumn is finally here! Those of you not here would also laugh at us, because to us autumn is signaled when the overnight temperatures finally fall below 70 degrees, and the winter coats come out at Walmart though we still won't need them for months, if at all.

It is also the time of year when the light begins to change; it becomes softer and more muted even as the leaves begin to change colors. The days grow shorter, the very rhythm of life changes, and the whole earth seems to be reminding us that it's good to slow down. Let's spend a few minutes thinking about this today...

The gorgeous view on my morning walk

​Do you like to sing? Some of my happiest memories involve music in general, and singing specifically. My grandmother loved to sing, and my mother does still, so I have many happy thoughts of standing at church to sing together, or singing at the top of our lungs in the car--Do You Hear What I Hear was a particular favorite, no matter if it was Christmastime or not. We went to lots of concerts to hear my mom sing; she was in a group called The Julie Singers, which was a fantastic group of ladies in the 70s, and I wish you could have been there to hear them harmonize. And I love to think about my sister‘s love of song. She played all of her new records on repeat before repeat was even a thing, and belted them out at the top of her lungs. And I can never forget the way the man of my dreams proposed to me in song, even getting down on one knee as he strummed the guitar and sang—to this day I still have stars in my eyes from that! 

I developed a love for music at an early age and joined the school choir just as soon as that was an option, and for me that was in junior high. This was in the very early 1980s, and again for those of you too young to have been there, I wish you could’ve been because it was glorious! Musically, this was the time of the recent past meeting a new day, as music often is. So I am quite sure in retrospect that my junior high choir teacher must have been a flower child in the late 60s, and brought her deep well of hippie music with her to my early 80s junior high school. We sang Stephen Sondheim, The Beatles, The New Christy Minstrels, Judy Collins, the Mamas and the Papas, and Simon & Garfunkel, to name a few, and it is from that last portfolio in particular that a song  is forever lodged in my memory...

​Slow down, you move too fast * 
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy
Ba da da da da da da, feelin’ groovy

​I confessed another of my earworms a few posts ago, and here I go again with one line of a song that I learned in 1983, which still impacts me so frequently.

Slow down, you move too fast… 

Sometimes life can feel so frantic. Especially that certain season of life in which so many of you reading this currently reside—I like to refer to them as the carpool years: that race to make sure that everyone gets to school and work and every single activity and church and, and, and…and on time. Not just once or twice, but every day for years on end. I must confess that I believed life would automatically slow down once the kids were grown, but this seems to have been a dream...perhaps because time speeds up as we age! 

There are bills to pay, meetings to attend, papers to fill out and file, homes to maintain, birthdays to remember, friends and family to keep up with, dramas and misunderstandings and fires to put out, the list goes on and on on. Life’s daily demands are, well, demanding! 

And, here I go again harping on our phones, but I'm becoming more convinced that these little rectangles we all hold dear are actually bitterly cruel task masters—they steal so much time and drain so much emotional energy from far too many people each and every day. Not to mention that we are all seeing in real time that too much time online is making some people absolutely insane. They aren't actually trolls, they are real people—made in God's image, and someone's son or daughter— and If not for our own sakes, then for their sakes we must make real effort to come back into the real world, as the virtual world exacts a costly sum. 

It's time for a slow down.

​I would like to suggest that this is a fitting time to recall some ancient practices of our fellow believers from days gone by. There are so many that we could benefit from, and a wonderful book to engage with these disciplines is called Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. I highly recommend this to anyone seeking a season or a lifetime of spiritual growth. For today, I have in mind two of these practices that could help bring a bit of slow-down perspective into our lives. 

First is simplicity. In a world so insanely obsessed with more, newer, better, faster and shinier, simplicity makes a great impact. Living simply means choosing to not jump into the storage facility, racing-hamster-wheel culture that surrounds us. Simplicity is setting boundaries for myself, my money, and my time, using them all for God’s purposes and not for my own accumulation of wealth and power. It means not having more than I need for myself, so I always have plenty to share with my neighbor. It means choosing people and deep relationships over money. And it means carefully allotting the 168 hours we are all given in each week to aim for a healthy balance of relationship, work, prayer, and sleep. Not everything is in our control, but much more than we often notice is, and practicing simplicity can bring health and rest in place of chaos and disorder. 

Next is solitude. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love to be around people all the time, and those who love not to be around people all the time. This discipline is for all of us, but mainly for the "people" people. Solitude is needing nothing but God. In a day where it is difficult to get away from electronic things and constant noise, we must seek solitude and incorporate it into our schedules. It is waiting in the presence of the Lord. It is being still and knowing that He is God. It is taking a break from the pressure for social media likes, from the constant need of affirmation from others, and from noise and chatter and conversation to rest quietly in God. There is a whole, beautiful world of God's creation to experience and enjoy, the beauty of which can fill your soul more effectively than anything else. 

As the year settles into autumn, I encourage you to think about incorporating a little more simplicity and solitude into your life. Let your heart be tuned to God's calendar this season—less light and noise, more softness and peace. Less hustle and bustle, more meaningful, face-to-face time with loved ones and with God. Less virtual reality and so much more natural reality, like walks in the woods and trips to watch the sunset in a beautiful spot nearby. Treat seriously the idea of a slow down and allow God to restore your heart and mind. 

I'll end with the beautiful exhortation to the Philippian church so long ago: 

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

* I can't resist mentally adding the word "rest!" here. Each time we rehearsed the song, the choir teacher would wave her hands and shout this, with a tremendous jingle of her bracelets, so that's the way the song goes in my mind! 

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I spend a little time talking about the spiritual disciplines in my devotional book, Kingdom Minded. If you haven't yet read this, it could be a blessing to you this fall—click this link to order a copy for yourself or several for your small group...

Kingdom Minded: Learning to Walk in Discipline as a Follower of Christ