Hello my dear friends, I've been out with the flu...slowly coming back to being able to feel alive again. The timing has been quite ironic. The day before I got the flu...I sat down knowing I wanted to write about the pace at which we life, but I was had no words coming to me. Deciding to come back the next day, I turned off the screen and walked away.
Well...little did I know that the next few days I would have plenty of time to live at a slowly pace (even if it was as a captive stomache flu victim) and, well...it allowed the idea to come into full fruition. Before I had gotten hit with the flu, I had been been going on long beautiful walks and everywhere I looked...I kept noticing that nature seems to move at a much slower pace than we tend to.
I couldn't help being unable to reconcile the pace at which we move with the contrasted pace of most of Creation that the same God made. So, I talked to him about it....and I thought about how fast most westerners push themselves to move faster, more efficiently...all in order to keep up with the job so that they can keep up with the bills from necessities to needless items that we've become convinced we need all in the name of success and satisfaction.
Then I was remembered a story that has stayed with me about how most people, no matter how rich they are, even if they are millionaires, will never say they are rich. The reality...as you've probably heard is that if you own a car...you are EXTREMELY rich....and even more than that, if you have more than enough food for today and shelter...you are rich. I know you don't believe me...but trust me. So, why can't people who have millions see that they are rich? Because we, as humans decide how rich we are based on how rich others are. This means that if we are surrounded by people who have more money than us...If we have one car but the neighbor has two cars AND a motorcycle....well then, Silly Goose, we're not rich...Mr. Jones...now HE is rich...little ole me...nope, I'm not rich.
This all goes with the idea of pace...I was looking at some beautiful horses grazing in a field...and thinking about their pace. I was watching some birds and watching their pace. I was watching a dog play, and thinking about their pace. I was watching some children swing and thinking about their pace. I felt the wind on my face, heard the soft rustle of the leaves, watched the water flow down the creek, and thought about their pace. Then, I wondered...if the pace that nature moves wouldn't reflect the pace our Creator moves at?
Although, of course, all animals can move quickly from time to time, for the most part (even ants and bees rest) they've got the art of rest down from time to time. Humans on the other hand...or at least a few of us...have lost the pace we were made to live at and exchanged it for a rat race pace that steals our opportunities to enjoy the very life we've been given. What do you think? I don't suggest we all lazily lounge for the rest of the life...but I think, perhaps...we could work at a much more complete, well founded, slower pace, and learn how to rest in a much better way than we have been. If we choose to look around at the original creation...I think we might find a clue as to how we were originally intended to live, move, and breathe. Perhaps, if we take a lesson from the horses, and get over our tic-toc fear that time is money, we could truly slow down so we can HEAR the Creator and each other.
So, without further ado, what do you think we can learn about the pace we should live at by looking around ?
Well...little did I know that the next few days I would have plenty of time to live at a slowly pace (even if it was as a captive stomache flu victim) and, well...it allowed the idea to come into full fruition. Before I had gotten hit with the flu, I had been been going on long beautiful walks and everywhere I looked...I kept noticing that nature seems to move at a much slower pace than we tend to.
I couldn't help being unable to reconcile the pace at which we move with the contrasted pace of most of Creation that the same God made. So, I talked to him about it....and I thought about how fast most westerners push themselves to move faster, more efficiently...all in order to keep up with the job so that they can keep up with the bills from necessities to needless items that we've become convinced we need all in the name of success and satisfaction.
Then I was remembered a story that has stayed with me about how most people, no matter how rich they are, even if they are millionaires, will never say they are rich. The reality...as you've probably heard is that if you own a car...you are EXTREMELY rich....and even more than that, if you have more than enough food for today and shelter...you are rich. I know you don't believe me...but trust me. So, why can't people who have millions see that they are rich? Because we, as humans decide how rich we are based on how rich others are. This means that if we are surrounded by people who have more money than us...If we have one car but the neighbor has two cars AND a motorcycle....well then, Silly Goose, we're not rich...Mr. Jones...now HE is rich...little ole me...nope, I'm not rich.
This all goes with the idea of pace...I was looking at some beautiful horses grazing in a field...and thinking about their pace. I was watching some birds and watching their pace. I was watching a dog play, and thinking about their pace. I was watching some children swing and thinking about their pace. I felt the wind on my face, heard the soft rustle of the leaves, watched the water flow down the creek, and thought about their pace. Then, I wondered...if the pace that nature moves wouldn't reflect the pace our Creator moves at?
Although, of course, all animals can move quickly from time to time, for the most part (even ants and bees rest) they've got the art of rest down from time to time. Humans on the other hand...or at least a few of us...have lost the pace we were made to live at and exchanged it for a rat race pace that steals our opportunities to enjoy the very life we've been given. What do you think? I don't suggest we all lazily lounge for the rest of the life...but I think, perhaps...we could work at a much more complete, well founded, slower pace, and learn how to rest in a much better way than we have been. If we choose to look around at the original creation...I think we might find a clue as to how we were originally intended to live, move, and breathe. Perhaps, if we take a lesson from the horses, and get over our tic-toc fear that time is money, we could truly slow down so we can HEAR the Creator and each other.
So, without further ado, what do you think we can learn about the pace we should live at by looking around ?
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