For if You’re Rushed and Need to Slow Down Time

So many moments I spend speeding through the now, racing to get to the next thing for fear I’ll never arrive there. I spin myself in circles trying to check the boxes off my list, only to get dizzy and confused about where I’m even going.

Before I know it, the day is gone.

Dinner’s over and the kids are running and laughing in the now of this moment, and I’m distracted by tasks and Twitter and all the trophies I try to earn for my own heart. And then I see her name and her tweet of a sunset picture. I read how she’s played with then until sunset and lingered a bit more to see the first star in the sky.

And it’s like a hard stop at the end of my whirlwind day … a God stop. Because God does that you know–He uses those who are His to touch the hearts of others with His Spirit of compassion and conviction.

I close my eyes and sink my chin to my chest, because it all comes back into focus.

Why is it so easy to forget?

Her words, which I’ve read and rewritten and highlighted on pages, come back to me, with a fierce explanation as to why I’m feeling half full:

You only live the full life when you live fully in the moment… ~1000gifts

I go upstairs. Dig through the shelves. Search through the drawers, for my tattered, underlined, post-it-noted, signed copy of her words.

I flip pages, read notes, and begin to remember why these summer days are flying by too fast and why I’m panicked they are fleeing. It’s because I’m hurrying right through … running to the next thing and missing the now thing.

And Chapter four is for my heart tonight. Again. Oh how I need the words again and again.

The words she admits to scratching out amidst the fringes of her sleep-deprived days

His words He inspired her to record, because of  the gift he gave her to write–

The gift He gave for her to give away, that our hearts would stop and look to Him with thanks.

Race for more and you’ll snag on time and leak empty…the longer I keep running the longer the gash, and I drain, bleed away. Hurry always empties the soul…the hurry makes us hurt…  ~1000 gifts

And God is so good. Because He coordinated things, you know. Hits me from different angles at once so I may know his voice on the matter. And my reading plan today was already scheduled to be Colossians 3. And it is in Paul’s words He takes me to the very solution I need.

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it ALL in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Colossians 3:17 (NIV)

Give thanks.

Calm. Haste makes waste. Life is not an emergency … Stay calm. Enter the moment, give thanks… ~1000gifts

I wore it on my neck this morning and instagrammed it at lunch. And I’m reminded right now, again, His mercy is new in every moment for me.

And so I begin again with thanks.

I grab a pen and write down gifts … so thankful God uses even Twitter to help me see again.

How has giving thanks changed you?

Tell me one thing you’re thankful for today?

Continuing on in the counting of gifts…

God’s mercy, new in every. single. moment.

singing together this morning

juicy ripe peaches

daughters

holding hands

sorted closets

just choosing to Start everyday (#startexp)

five minute friday party, with a beloved guest

a soldier in fatigues holding his newly born baby before my eyes–ahh SO moving

finishing memorization of all of Romans Chapter 1

parents faithfully married 49 years this week

co-op lesson planning

healthy eating

exercising at my limit

family movies

rain in July

cool evening breezes