Phil. 3:14 (NIV)
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Devotion
When I was a mother of young children with a husband who traveled frequently for work, wehad a full calendar: sports, Scouts, handbells, music lessons, church plus school. There was littletime for reflection on life’s deeper meaning.
A poem by Wilferd Peterson touched me. I still keep it posted in the kitchen.
Slow me down, Lord!
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind.
Steady my harried pace
With a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me,
Amidst the confusions of my day,
The calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves
With the soothing music of the singing streams
That live in my memory.
Help me to know
The magical power of sleep.
Teach me the art
Of taking the minute vacations of slowing down
To look at a flower;
To chat with an old friend or make a new one;
To pat a stray dog;
To watch a spider build a web;
To smile at a child;
Or to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day
That the race is not always to the swift;
That there is more to life than increasing its speed.
Let me look upward
Into the branches of the towering oak
And know that it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord,
And inspire me to send my roots deep
Into the soil of life’s enduring values
That I may grow toward the stars
Of my greater destiny.
Prayer
Slow us down, Lord, that we may stop and hear you calling us heavenward. Amen.
Janet Kohlenberger