Articles
Slow It Down
Erling Kagge, a modern philosopher, adventurer, and author, once wrote a book in which he espouses the practice of walking over faster methods of transportation whenever possible. According to Kagge, slowing down our pace increases the quality of many facets of life. For instance, he argues that memory, meaning, and problem solving are increased because we employ more senses in the walk. We become more attuned to our surroundings because they don’t whiz by in a 55-mph blur. And, counterintuitively, he says that walking can slow down time to get more accomplished, as opposed to rushing from place to place and never feeling like you have enough time.
There may be something to what Kagge is proposing. In Psalm 46 the psalmist is extoling the security of God, specifically in verses 8-10, during the times of war and chaos. In Psalms 46:10 he says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” So much of our lives is spent running that we are not able to truly absorb what a walk with God has to offer. Think about the last devotional time you spent. Did you sit down and quickly read through a few verses only to speedily jump up and run to the next thing on your schedule? How much of that reading did you soak in? Probably not much.
Yet, being still to know God goes beyond slowing down a daily devotional. It also means slowing down to use more of our senses in experiencing life. Allowing all the interactions with people and creation to remind us how powerful our God is and how much he loves us. If we can learn to do that, it will bring about results very few people in this world ever enjoy. Our connection to God will strengthen. Our stress will begin to drop. Our ability to think through struggles and listen to God’s instruction will deepen.
We are in the midst of graduations, the end of a school year, planning for summer trips, and so on. It is one of those seasons that is going by so fast. Consider what steps you could take now to intentionally slow down your life. (And don’t tell me it’s not possible, because it is!) What could you trim away? What could you rearrange? What new habits could you include? Slow it down so that you can be still and know God to the fullest.
