When I was in junior high, my friends used to call me Spider Fingers because I loved to play difficult songs loud and fast. I hated playing slow songs – they were so boring. Plus, all the kids were impressed when I played fast and loud, and who doesn’t want to impress their junior high friends?
Later, in college, Professor Worst often told me, Slow down, Shari. Your music will have more life if you play slowly. Breathe….
Years ago, when I walked with my friends I loved to walk fast. We would walk and talk quickly for 4 miles. Then sometimes my mom would fly out from Idaho to visit and just she and I would go for a walk. I would be silently annoyed because she walked slower than I, but I would grudgingly adapt to her speed.
When you are on the I-89 in Utah and the gas gauge on your car is near empty and there’s not a gas station for another 52 miles, what’s the best thing to do? Slow down so your mileage goes up and maybe, just maybe you can make it to the next town before the tank is empty. (It didn’t always work for us, but in theory it should.)
In my younger years I wanted to be efficient, multi-task, get the most done in the least amount of time. Isn’t that the way a good woman should be? I wanted to do my best for God, which meant to do it quickly and well, or so I thought. I expected the same from God: He should be efficient, answer my prayers soon – maybe not quickly – but I really shouldn’t have to wait too long, should I?
And then I got sick and was laid low, on my back, for weeks which turned into months. I couldn’t walk around the block, much less walk fast around the block. I was irritated and angry that I didn’t get better quickly.
One day as I was on the couch, laying down and looking up, I read in Isaiah the following words that jumped out from the page:
Woe to those who say, ‘Let God hurry and carry out His plans so that we can see something happening and know that His word is true.’
I was shocked, surprised and hurt to read that God was in no hurry to answer my prayers of healing or of anything else I desired, in fact there was a woe attached to hurry. In the past I had been so busy that I had not listened to his voice that also said
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
Psalm 37:7
A few years ago I was practicing the song Breathe on the piano. It had some difficult parts in it when I was keeping the same speed throughout. But as I was working out the hard spots, having to go slow, I noticed a beauty I hadn’t heard before. I found that if I took extra time and breathed into the song – sometimes of slowing, stretching the tempo – it came alive and was much more beautiful than simply trying to keep the challenging parts the same speed as the rest of the song. I needed to be reminded again, Go slow. Especially the hard parts.
Eventually I was able to get up and around again after my time on the couch, but I have learned and am still learning to remember to go slow, take time, and
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14.
I assume that because the phrase wait for the Lord appears twice in that short verse, God is emphasizing the importance of waiting. As Ann Voskamp often says,
Life is not an emergency. Breathe….
When we invite God into the hard parts of life, He will bring about change – but never in a hurry.
The amazing thing is that while I was on the couch God did an important reconciling work between me and others close to me. In the world’s eyes I was not at all productive, but in that time of slowdown He did some important, humbling work in me that could have never been done during my busy life.
Good relationships matter far more than a too busy lifestyle. I know God will work through every detail, hurt, and concern in you and your people in His time.
Trust Him with your life and go slow.
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