So...where were we?

Or, in other words, almost exactly 2 years later, the Minister tries to pick back up with his blog!

Not that I had a larger readership mind you, but I did manage to hear from folks from time to time while putting my thoughts down on…um…virtual paper. So, its time to get cranked back up, and continue to pass along my observations of this life, and how we do indeed see God in the details.

My latest project is to (once again) try and slow the pace of my life down. Consider the following quote (which I have seen recently in numerous places…perhaps God is trying to tell me something??):

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

-Lao Tzu

It’s amazing the truth that is contained in those 8 words. Nothing about nature is rushed. Yet, animals feed, birds and squirrels build their nests, trees grow tall, and everything seems to be accomplished in due time. I know, I know, I can hear your protests now: Birds don’t have bosses breathing down their necks to meet deadlines.

True that. But, is it no less important that birds find food to feed their young, so they survive to adulthood? Obviously not. Yet, it appears to me that birds, while certainly industrious, do not rush about in their daily routines (Suggestion: Bird watching is a marvelous activity, and will actually teach you a whole lot about living).

There is a natural rhythm to nature, one that is not rushed, yet accomplishes everything. It’s really more about focus, than rushing. Nature tends to reward focus actually, one thing at a time, and when that item is complete, rest, and move on to the next item.

In an age where we are connected in so many ways, be they through Blackberry’s, computers, or cell phones, it can seem difficult not to get caught up in seemingly urgent tasks. We seem to feel proud of the fact that we as a nation are accomplished multi-taskers, when in fact, studies have proven that multi-tasking is largely ineffective. We are losing our sense of creativity, which requires focus on one task or project at a time, because we are in such a hurry to read the next e-mail (which more than likely, just isn’t all that important), or answer the next phone call. It wears us down. We can’t live in reactionary mode all the time folks, or we’ll just burn out.

And believe you me, I am preaching just as much to myself as I am to my “flock”. I’ve got to get off this reactionary treadmill, and get back to being absorbed in one project at a time. It’s funny, but when I do that, the particular project on which I’m working tends to be accomplished a lot more effectively, and the quality of the work is that much better, than when I’m juggling 4 or 5 different projects in the air, never quite giving any one of them my full undivided attention.

If I can manage to learn one thing in life, its to slow down its pace. Life is meant to be lived, enjoyed, relished even. And God has designed a template on a sustainable and healthy pace of living in nature, if we but slow down long enough to observe it.

My best advice to learn what it means to not hurry? Watch some of God’s most amazing little creatures, the birds. They certainly accomplish many things within a day’s time, but its one thing at a time for them. They’re never in a rush.

And, they always find time to sing.

-The Minister