A Simple Word

A simple, small word has filled my mind a few seasons in my life.

The word showed up when schools were closed, sports were canceled, and restaurants and stores shut their doors. 

It settled into my heart when I heard we were having triplets (that is, after a cold rag was put on my head to keep me from fainting!).

The word resonated in my heart when I could have lost my seven-year-old son after an artery in his throat opened at school, but instead, I was given the gift of him.

The word that has rested in my heart, mind, and soul over and over is…

Slow. 

Isn’t it easy?

To get caught in the rat race of comparison and competition, online or in person, and to feel the need to get busy or outshine? 

To do anything but slow down?

To grab for the next thing, instead of being content with what’s right in front of us?

Until something extreme happens and 

we hit a wall, 

and lose a loved one and time is so slow,

or we almost lose a loved one and time slows down,

or a pandemic happens, 

and we’re forced to release control.

To leave the busy parts of our lives open and available, to fill them with life and slowness. 

When extreme things happen, I’m brought back to what matters in life. 

I’m brought back to Solomon’s words in Eccl. 1:14, “All of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

All

the jealousy,

the superficiality,

the longing to be better than,

the over-juggling from one activity to the next,

the focusing on so much other than the ones right in front of us.

It’s a chasing after the wind. 

It doesn’t last. 

This season, and times before, I’m reminded of the things that do last, the things that are marked by the beauty in the word slow.

Jesus.

Family.

Friends.

Serving with love.

My mind and heart press me, the Lord moves me, to reflect and consider where I’m investing my heart, my mind, my worth. 

To remember that

this world is fleeting,

but the Lord lasts;

this world will hurt us,

but the Lord heals;

this world doesn’t satisfy,

but the Lord does;

In this season, the word slow has refreshed my soul again.  

The joy in slow, the peace in slow, the freedom in slowing down and opening my hands– loosening control and being in the now. 

It honors the Lord to be in the now, the present, the very moment He’s given us, as we’re not promised the next.

In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus doesn’t teach us to ask, "Give us our yearly or weekly bread," but to pray, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).

We can easily be tempted to live in yesterday or tomorrow. 

Yet, the Lord wants us to live in today. 

To take in all of today,

the boredom,

the adventure,

the monotony,

the simplicity,

the complexity,

the togetherness,

the sadness,

the joy,

the conflict,

the peace.

In the midst of it all, He wants us to reach for Him, 

the Giver of Life, 

the Satisfier of Life, 

the Fulfiller of Life, 

and ask for our daily bread.

To depend on Him today.

To rest in Him today.

To choose joy in Him today.

To give thanks daily for the Lord and for the ones right in front of us,

knowing they are gifts.

That He is a gift. 

That we are indeed blessed because regardless of the season we’re in. 

We know the Savior, Jesus, who has come to give us life here and now, and forever, when we simply choose Him.

In the midst of a pandemic, 

in the midst of challenges, 

in the midst of celebrations, 

may we slow down and always come to the Lord, remembering that in Jesus, is the life that is truly life.

Friends, may we be encouraged by the Lord’s words in Jeremiah, knowing that we are deeply loved by the Lord and that He is always here for us. Always.

“'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord, 'and I will restore you…I have loved you with an everlasting love'”  (Jer. 29 13-14; 31:3).

~ By Linsey Driskill. Linsey is a wife, mother to triplets, writer, and speaker. Additionally, she's been published in: Focus on the Family, Her View from Home, MOPS, ForEveryMom, and Just Between Us. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook @BeautifulHeartedParenting.