Slowing Down

I remember from my high school basketball days a friend and teammate whom we nicknamed "Pondwater" because he moved so slowly on the basketball court.  Over the years I have been accused a time or two of walking too slow.  Usually, the word about my moving about speed came from someone who was in a hurry.  Hurrying is something we all do.  Even though called slow by some, I get in a hurry just like most folks.  Some folks just cannot seem to slow down.  The only thing that has the power to slow them down is old age.   

What is also true is that there is a hurrying no one can observe in us.  It is the hurrying we do even when we are sitting still.  How many times have we sat alone somewhere and yet sensed that our mind was racing ahead to some task waiting to be done?  Slowing down our spirit is for many of us a harder task than slowing down our physical body.  Many times we look like the definition of inertia, but inside in the unseen places, it is pedal to the medal.  Is is it not true that the root of our hurrying is our anxiety about our life?  Is it not also true that the antithesis of anxiety is trust?  Are we hurrying within and without because we are afraid God is not going to be able to take care of the things of our life?  Is it not true that much of our hurried anxiety is the product of a life that suffers from misplaced priorities?  

A tough word for many of us is found in Philippians 4:6:  "Do not worry about anything..." and another equally as hard word comes from the mouth of Jesus as we hear Him saying, "do not worry about your life, what you will eat...drink...wear..."  (Matthew 6:25).  The way of slowing down, alleviating the anxiety, and learning to trust is found in embracing a single action each day, "Be still and and know that I am God."  (Psalm 46:10).  Breathe and ponder that word each day.  It will make a difference.