Please, trip me

I had a chat with one of my daughters this morning, about her comprehension of Last of the Mohicans.  She has been trying to speed read it for the last two weeks and not enjoying it at all.  Last night she slowed down her reading and started to enjoy the story.  It got me thinking, again, about why we want to do everything as fast as humanly possible.  Is our obsession with speed a human nature thing, or an American thing?

I think that one of the things that I loved the most about Ethiopia was the slower pace.  Things just took longer.  Washing your clothes by hand is time consuming, but you are usually doing it with someone else around, so it is pleasant in its own way.  You couldn't speed down the highway at 65 mph, because there were cows sleeping in the road and they weren't moving for anyone.  Some people might argue that this is an inefficient lifestyle and that it causes all kinds of problems.  I guess they might be right, to some extent.  But what about the speed of our lifestyle?  Doesn't it also cause problems?

I've been trying to figure out how to slow down the pace of my life.  Time keeps on ticking, and there is a lot that I want to do.  Some days I wake up and realize that I am 40 and I may not have as much time as I need to finish all of my work under the sun.  That's when I need to listen to that still, small, slow voice that whispers "my life is eternal."  This is just the beginning.  What I am slogging away at here will be more glorious there.  I need to resist the temptation to weave into traffic and try to keep up with the guys in the fast lane.  I need to pull off the freeway sometimes and get out and wander up the path on the side of the road.

Practically what this means for me is that I need to let my kids read their books more slowly if they need to.  I need to let them turn in a paper late occasionally if they need the time to finish their thought.  So what if they lose 10% of their points?  This is elementary school.  I don't have anyone with Harvard aspirations at this point anyway.  I need to let Jubilee take her time in her writing and learn to do it neatly, not quickly like her classmates.  I need to stay home sometimes and make a really good meal that takes all day, and share it with friends.  I need to encourage my children to run at their own pace, and let me run at mine, because really I am the pokey one most of the time.  I need to encourage my slower paced family members to take their time and explore.  When I find myself having to wait on someone, I should look at it as an opportunity instead of an inconvenience.

I hate to be late.  I will rush out the door fifteen minutes early so that I won't have to make someone else wait on me.  Often God has other plans.  Road construction eats away my extra time.  Shoes mysteriously disappear right before we are headed out the door.  I get panicky and start getting short with everyone.  I need to let God set the pace and just chill out.  I remember when we were in the process of adopting Nesradine.  Papers would be missing, and court dates would change.  I learned through that process that God does renew the strength of those who wait on Him.  I met my dear friend Andrea through that wait.  We got to find out about Nes's mom.  There were so many blessings in it that I would have never experienced if the paperwork had gone through efficiently.  I think waiting is good for our souls.

God is a God of generations.  He sets us on projects that take hundreds of years.  Think about that, hundreds of years.  America has only been around for a couple of hundred years.  We get impatient and stop praying for things after about a week.  I want a problem resolved in the next 12 months at the very longest.  Life truly is short, and eternity truly is long.  What is my hurry?  God knows what needs to be done, and by when.  I shall not fret over late appointments, unfinished to do lists, timed math tests, or fast food.  The world will keep turning even if I sit down and read a book instead of bustling off to the store to make sure I have every ingredient for dinner.  I can substitute, and it might even turn out better.

So, if you are supposed to meet somewhere in the near future, I may be late.  It will be okay.  Bring a book and enjoy the extra time.  Bring some fingernail polish and paint your fingernails while you wait, or maybe just stare into space and ponder.  If you are late to meet me, don't worry about it, I have learned to enjoy these little moments.  If you have one of my children in school, I am sorry, their paper will be turned eventually.  They may not finish the book this week, but they will by next week.  It's okay, I still love them.  If you come over for dinner, please don't feel like you have to leave within an hour after dinner.  We will just get out another bottle of wine and enjoy where the conversation leads.  If you see me bustling by in a hurry to get someplace, please trip me.  I need to be reminded to slow down, Thanks.