Breaking the Speed of Life

BREAKING THE SPEED OF LIFE

"Be still and know that I am God ..." Psalm 46:10

Yesterday we drove to Lancaster, Pa, one of our favorite places to visit. I am always impressed with the simplicity of the Amish people and their way of life. In fact, I joked with Zach and Jan yesterday, that they are not feeling the crunch on electric and gas prices like we are. Maybe it is time for Keswick to buy some horses and buggies!

Being off this week causes me to realize how fast life can be even in ministry. These past several weeks have been crazy. Listen to what Dr. Richard Swenson says about this in his daily devotional, ONE MINUTE MARGIN:

"We are a nation on the move and in a hurry, the people of the forward stampede. We eat fast food during rush hour. We ship by FedEx, place calls through Sprint, balance books on Quicken, and diet with Slim Fast.
We're hyperliving, like field mice on amphetamines at harvest time, moving so fast we're passing up photons.

Our global treadmill is equipped with an automatically advancing speed rheostat, and every year the world spins faster. Gone are the1930's when ... people moved slower then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of store, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four house long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with ... if we were bored in 1930, we are breathless and exhausted now.

The speed phenomenon is not only subjectively true, but objectively measureable. Because progress gives us more and more, faster and faster, the escalating pace of daily life is both scientifically verifiable and a permanent feature of the modern age.

Personally, I don't mind going fast. I don't even mind going faster. But going TOO FAST is another issue. It is not wrong to enjoy the pleasure of being efficient and productive. But the anguish of being gasping, resentful, and consume is real, compliments of excessive speed.

Is there a speed limit to life ... a pace beyond which the brain, body and spirit begin to suffer? What happens when we exceed this limit? Clearly there IS such a limit, and clearly many of us exceed it routinely.

The increase in ambient speed is one of the most pressing problems of our time. Our lives are nonstop. We walk fast, talk fast, eat fast, and then excuse ourselves by saying, 'I must run!' This frenzy is responsible for much personal and family dysfunction. Very little of lasting spiritual value happens in the presence of speed.

Speed. Hurry. We pay a price for the pace at which we live." Ouch! Ouch!
Ouch! Something for me to think about today. How about you?

Today's Scripture: Judges 1-3; Luke 4:1-30

Great Quote: "Consciously slow the pace of life. Take your foot off the accelerator pedal. Throttle back. Put on the brakes and obey the speed limit of the soul. The green pastures and still waters yet await us - but not in the direction the treadmill is spinning." - Dr. Richard A.
Swenson