Slow Me Down Lord

I love turtles. They just go at a slow pace. They look like they have all the time in the world. Perhaps, we can learn something from these funny little creatures. I have a few turtles on my kitchen window seal to remind me to slow down and reflect on Him.

This time of year, I have to remind myself daily or should I say hourly to slow down.

This poem was a great reminder of slowing me down.

Slow me down, Lord;

Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me amid the confusion of the day the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles
with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations,
of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend,
to smile at a child, to read a few lines from Your book.

Slow me down, Lord,
And inspire me to send my roots deep
deep into the soil of life's enduring values,
that I may grow toward my greater destiny.
Remind me each day that the race is not always to the swift,
that there is more to life than increasing its speed.
Let me look upward to the towering oak
and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.

By Owen L. Craine