Are you going beyond the speed limit? Have you committed to responsibilities that are beyond what is humanly possible? Perhaps you need to slow down before you get a ticket. A ticket that may state the following as your offense:

• Not giving what you love your full attention. You have been neglectful. Treating your loved ones and favored activities as items to be checked off a “To Do” list.Taking on “optional responsibilities” instead of saying “no”. Only giving enough of yourself to “get by”. Patching the holes left by your busyness.

For my faithful readers, you are well aware that each year I tackle the challenge of slowing down and re-prioritizing. This year has been no different. And I am finding that I am not alone in this quest.

This week’s In Other Words (hosted by Debbie at Heart Choices) quote about “busyness” was:

Jesus reminds us that our speech and actions reveal our true underlying beliefs, attitudes and motivations. Yet if we are Martha how are we able to hear Jesus? Does our relationship with Jesus demonstrate our love for Him or for others?

I read that good communication builds good relationships. Is it more convenient for you to text family and friends rather than taking the time to meet face to face and give all of yourself? Would you text Jesus if He had a cell phone?

Earlier this week I did two things to slow down. Instead of rushing home to continue checking off my “To Do” list, I took a few side roads on my way home from picking up flea meds for two of our children (can you guess which ones???).

First I stopped at a thrift shop to engage in one of my most favorite pastimes….working my way through old and used books. Because I “pulled back the throttle” I found these two treasures:

• Shelter for the Spirit: How to Make Your Home a Haven in a Hectic World by Victoria Moran. This was from this morning’s quiet time reading:

Many of us have been working more than we’d like, running more than we’d planned, and doing more than we ever though would be expected of us. We too often feel detached from the things we love most: our homes, our families, our solitary time. We instinctively know we need a deeper bond with home and hearth, but we have forgotten how to achieve and sustain that connection. Attempting it can seem overwhelming. It’s easier to focus on something else or be somewhere else.

• Keys to Happiness: A Reader’s Digest Guide to Successful Living, Copyright 1955. This is an excerpt from the very first essay written by T.E. Murphy:

For three months I have been asking friends and acquaintance how familiar they were with the greatest blueprint for a happy life that was ever drawn. Of couse they had all heard of this famous code of human relations. But not one of 70 persons questioned – most of them churchgoers – could quote a line of it.

The document they failed to remember was the Sermon on the Mount – the Magna Carta of Christian faith. Three months ago, I should have assumed that most persons knew something of what Jesus said in his most notable utterance. Now I am sure comparatively few people have any clear memory of either the words or their meaning. Yet, as recorded in St. Mathew, Chapters V to VII, the Sermon teaches not only the deepest spiritual truths but also practical techniques by which anyone may find health, success and tranquillity; peace of mind and peace of soul.

The second detour I made was following a sign I had never noticed before…even though the road I was on, I had traveled a gazillion times during the nine years we have lived in this area. I suppose I continually missed the sign due to going beyond the speed limit (lucky I didn’t get a ticket). The sign read:

• Citrus Springs Memorial Library (arrow pointing down a never traveled side road)

I followed the road and to my delicious surprise I came upon a very quaint building nestled on a few acres of woods. This library is not a part of the county system. It is run by volunteers and the books are donated by members of the community. They even checked books out the old-fashioned way…with a date stamp and your signature. It was the perfect place for a harried soul such as myself. Just the smell was like being hugged!!! The reward for “pulling back the throttle” and driving down a road never traveled was not the three books I found for my husband by an author that has been illusive in the county library system, but a moment to step back in time, breathe deep, and feel refreshed.

The one thing I changed this week to give the moments of my life more attention turned out to have God’s Thumbprints all over them. Just the act of slowing down prepared me to truly spend time with God and open my heart to hearing His words.

I like what Dennis Rainey says in Moments With You:

What cutbacks and other restrictions could you impose on yourselves that would make your lives dramatically more manageable three to six months from now? Start by finding one thing you’ll say no to.

Ask God to give you both the tenacity and the wisdom to build some margin into your lives and family.

I chose to say no to rushing home to a mountain full of laundry and a sink full of dishes and said yes to taking a new and different “slow” way home. How about you?????????

Related Article:

Preparing for Holiday Stress by Rick Nauert, PhD