If I could just slow down!

Slow down.  What a concept!  Most days it's just a wish in my head.  Very seldom is it a reality.  I find myself a slave to my calendar or my lists.  Do you ever feel this way?  Between schedule and lists there are the intrusions that seem to suck the rest of the energy right out of me.  God took time to rest on the seventh day.  He even sat down to make breakfast for his fisherman friends.  What is at stake in our lives is not the quantity of time.  We all have the same 24 hours in a day.  What we do to make it quality time is more important.  Sometimes things just seem to "click" and drop into place so nicely that we know God was in it.  The questions are: whether we began the day looking at our world through his eyes, that we asked God to direct our path for his glory, and did we thank him when the day was done?  That seems to be a lot to ask.  What would happen if we actually slowed down?  I don't mean for a few minutes while we fetched another cup of coffee.  I mean if we really took the time to pray.  That would mean we didn't need to be done praying in the minute it took us to pause at a red light.  Do we really take the time to wait for God to speak to us?  Would we recognize his voice when he spoke?  Waiting seems to be the culprit.  We don't like to wait.  When I look over past relationships I can pick out the ones who had others waiting for them.  Their delay could have been an opportunity for us to wait on God.  Do we take the time to listen.  It seems that one of the most important time to listen is equally represented by the importance of other items on our agenda.  Listening is a form of art rarely preformed here in 2014.  Listening until someone or God is finished talking is a matter of respect.  Then, and only then, can we go out and do what God has asked us to do.  Did you know that God commands us to slow down and to rest?  He does.  The next time you feel like taking off your shoes and putting the recliner back, just do it.  While you are there, enjoy the presence of God and the talks you can have.  Take time today to slow down.  You and I are not nearly as important as we think we are.  The demands of others can always be taken care of by others.  Slow down.  I'm going to.