Learning to Stroll

You will keep in perfect peace

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust in you. Isaiah 26: 3

I believe I've shared in here the truth about myself that I am always rushing.  No matter what, I always feel the need for speed.  Don't worry, I truly do not speed when I'm driving...because I'm a chicken...I'm too afraid of cops...but anyway...one sure way to detect my constant hurry is in the way I walk.  My co-workers always tease me about it.  And, to be honest, I hadn't noticed.  If it hadn't been for them pointing out my speed-walk-style, I would still be oblivious to it.  However, I've paid more attention lately, and yes...I do not know how to stroll.  I rush through the hallways in our building at work, and the moment I notice my speed is when I get caught behind other humans, and all of a sudden, the world seems to go on slow motion.

It's not only my feet that move fast.  This morning, I realized, my mind runs too.  I woke up way too early and couldn't go back to sleep because my brain was flooded with a thousand and one thoughts.  The list of things I have to do kept me awake, trying to figure out how to accomplish it all as soon as I could.  I rushed out of the house, rushed, rushed, rushed...and then came back home, rushing to begin to do more rushing things...then it hit me...in my rushing, I had forgotten to do my first morning reading.  

I neglected my few minutes of quiet time with the Lord in the early morning.  I neglected the one thing that could give me a hope for steadiness in my day.

I want peace.  I crave peace.  I made PEACE my guiding word for this year.  I pray for peace to flow in my life like a river.  I want to experience the peace that surpasses all understanding.  I want to dive into it...but I neglect to do the very thing that will most certainly connect me to the source of all peace...to the One Who Is Peace...I neglect to slow down and be still in His presence.  Instead, I hurry like I have the power to solve the issues of my life on my own.  I rush as if I had the power to be my own savior and deliverer.  I run around frantically as if I had the power to be my own god...

That's what rushing is, after all...thinking that I am powerful enough to take care of it all...

Sigh...

I need to let go of the thought that my destiny is in my own hands.  I need to trust Him.  I need to trust the One who designed my destiny, the One who created my path, the One who made the plan for my life, the One who lovingly walks beside me along the way that is Himself.

"Ruthlessly eliminate hurry" says one of my devotional readings today.  I pray that the Holy Spirit helps me to realize that hurry is an idol.  I pray I learn to slow down as I walk around the hallways at work as a sign of my repurposed worldview.  I pray I begin to discover the joy of a diminished pace as once and for all, I learn how to stroll.