Related articles - Lord Slow Me Down…
Last Thursday, I got up early to help drive some of our team of twenty-three young people to the airport. They were off on a missions trip to Costa Rica to help construct buildings, teach children, care for the sick and give gifts of food and clothes.
It was 3:30 a.m. and we were riding down the almost empty highway, when we came upon a car that was stalled by the side of the dark road. In the seconds that passed between our seeing the man in distress and our opportunity to stop and help, we passed among ourselves several comments:
“We should really stop and help the guy!”, “Maybe he needs a telephone to call for a tow truck or a ride somewhere!”, “No, we’re running late already – we haven’t got time to stop. We don’t want to miss our plane!”
Thankfully, as I pulled slowly by him to check him out, I saw him on the telephone; he smiled at us and waved us on, so we didn’t have to risk being late for our plane. But as we drove on, we quipped, “oh yeah, here we are Christians on a mission for God to help the poor in Costa Rica, but we’re too busy doing stuff for God to help someone right under our noses who may have needed us.” “Maybe it was a test from God,” said someone. “If it was, we might just have flunked it!”
The problem we were having last Thursday morning was one that I’m trying to overcome – no white spaces in my time. A few weeks ago, I used the illustration that the white spaces in a book or magazine with no printing or pictures crowding them, actually make what is written easier to see and read.
In our lives, white spaces in our emotional or physical energy, in our finances or in our daily schedules give us energy, money and time to enjoy the serendipitous opportunities of life and take the time to go about discovering our life's destiny. I learned years ago not to plug my calendar so full in a day that I can’t stop and visit for two or three minutes with a child who’s toddling beside his mommy at the church, talk with a lady who phones in distress and needs an encouraging word or pray with a guy who walks in off the street for a cup of coffee. If I’m too busy for the “smelling the roses” moments, I’m too busy period! I’ve had to get past the idea that my time is more important than anybody else’s!
The other day, I was visiting some friends and noticed a plaque that was pinned to their family bulletin board, so I asked them about it. The wife said to me, “well, we moved into this smaller home to try and cut down our financial pressures and reorganize our lives so that we have more time as a family to breath. I found that cardboard plaque in our junk drawer. The poem begins, ‘Lord slow me down…’, but I haven’t had time to read the rest of it yet!” I laughed with her because I understood.
