Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
It happened. I was in a hurry and my urgency was traveling through my foot to the gas pedal when I came up on a work crew blocking traffic to repair some overhead lines. The traffic control flagman gave me a nasty look which I deserved and with a huge wave of his hand gave me a very distinct signal that I should slow down.
Life comes at you fast, just as the commercial says. We also feel that we have to hurry through our days to get everything accomplished, so that we don’t miss out on anything. Our lists are long, our schedules full, our inbox of 900 unread emails nauseating.
However, in our flurry, maybe we are missing everything. You’ve seen it and I’ve done it. Answered an email or posted a picture while I missed the basket my son made in the basketball game. My body was present but my mind was completely absent. What am I doing?
What really matters in this life? What will be the lasting and eternal treasures that we take with us when Jesus calls us home?
I’m in the car again and this time I’m not in a hurry. Dropping my kids off at school has given me a rather large margin of time to make it to the next thing on my schedule so I decide to take a Sunday drive on a Monday morning, enjoying the moment.
As I pass a farmer’s field where there are typically many cows, I see a huge flock of blue herons. A flock. I’ve never seen more than a solitary heron anywhere. I didn’t even know they congregated. If I had been in a hurry, rushing the thoughts in my mind to the next thing on my list faster than I could drive there, I would have missed it. God’s amazing creation painted on a canvas right out my car window.
His message to me that day didn’t have anything to do with those blue herons or His creation, but I heard Him say to my soul, “if you had been in a hurry today you would have missed this. What’s your rush? I have come to give you life to the fullest and you’re rushing through it.” I picture the hands of God motioning me to slow down.
Kim Newlen always said she didn’t want to miss anything God had planned for her. I don’t either. But I also don’t want to be looking for it so furiously that I run right into it like a brick wall. God has a way of making His plans known to us, whether we are looking for them or not.
Take a big inhale of His Holy Spirit today and ask God to help you slow down so that you notice His handiwork all around you, you hear His still, small voice, and you see the everyday blessings He has laid out for you along your path.
His servant and yours,
Paula