I’m in a hurry to get things done
I rush and rush until life’s no fun*
Or until I slam my finger in a locked car door.
That brought my hurry up life to a screeching halt about 2 weeks ago. Intense pain has a way of getting our attention. The busy, productive day I had planned took a detour that looked a lot like me settling into a position where my hand could be elevated on pillows and I got to continue the book series I have been reading through this summer.
Forced rest.
My least favorite kind.
The whole ordeal made me introspective. How, I asked myself, could such a small injury-one half of one digit on my dominant hand affect every part of my waking hours? I know the answer: our fingertips are jam packed with nerve endings, which allow us to distinguish thousands of different sensations-a wonderful thing. However, the more pain receptors, the more intense the pain, ergo the smallest paper cut can send us howling.
There is no way around this throbbing, swollen finger…I am a captive to time.
I started thinking about other parts of life that cannot be hurried. The kind of things that have their own ebb and flow in life, despite our coaxing, “Hurry up!” We are just along for the ride.
Feeding a baby a bottle is one of those things. It makes us sit down and be present in the task. We can’t hurry a 5 month old into gulping faster. We don’t want to. It’s an honor to be involved in such an important part of their growth and development.
Karalin Grace has reminded me of that. I count the time I spend feeding my little granddaughter her bottle as time I want to stand still. Holy moments as we stare into each other’s eyes. I long to know what she is thinking. Here’s what I am thinking: this time will be gone too fast. Slow down.
57 years of living taught me that.
Healing is another thing that cannot be hurried. Our bodies are amazing. As a nurse, God’s design for how the body heals itself still keeps me in awe. But it takes time. Time that has it’s own pace that we are captive unto. That hits home as I hunt and peck this keyboard, protecting the still sore finger.
It is good to be sidelined sometimes. To be reminded that the world keeps going on without us, just fine. We are not so important as to hold up the universe, even the universe of our lives.
The Bible taught me that.
It says, be still.
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Ps 46:10)
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…” (Ps 37:7)
We are encouraged by spiritual fathers of the past to look not only to participating in the outward Christian disciplines of worship, service and giving, but seek to incorporate silence and solitude into our practice of faith. In a world that values production and accomplishment, it is sometimes hard to sit and wait. The blessing is in the action of being still on purpose. To wait patiently for Him.
With expectation of meeting the divine.
God desires our attention. And He will have it one way or another. Freely given. Or heaven directed.
As the bruises fade and tenderness subside, I realize I needed to be attentive to what I had put off for too long.
And I am thankful.
Blessings,
Stephanie
* Excerpt from I’m in a Hurry by Randy VanWarmer and Roger Murrah
Front Porch Tales 
This is excellent!!! Loved it!
Sent from my iPhone
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😘
Great art and poetry. Glad to have read it, it just sparked something in me………… Great work
Thanks for the encouragement!
Welcome
Sorry about your injury… loved the blog!
Love u!
You told me to blog…bossy pants.
Oh how true Stephanie.
Sorry about your finger…OUCH !!!
Time….nothing like that time spent feeding a Grandchild a bottle. It’s such a precious time.
No hurrying then.
Gotta go…..no time to keep retyping my thoughts 😉😉
I miss you!
Beautifully written dear friend. Wish I was sitting on your porch with you right now.
I wish it too!
I loved this! It is such a great reminder to all of us. I too, wish I were sitting right beside you on your porch right now.
Me too!! Come on!
I was reading Pascal’s “Penseés” just this morning; he wrote, “All of man’s unhappiness comes from one thing: not knowing how to remain restfully in a room.” Thank you for bringing his point beautifully to life, almost 400 years later!
Thanks for sharing those wise words!
Thanks for these words friend! As I sit here with my leg raised (after I somehow sprained my ankle just walking on a flat surface our last night of vacation), being forced to sit and “be still and know that He is God”, I am remembering all our sweet moments with our kids and Jack and Abigail Grace at the beach last week. Of course, laundry and household chores beckon but for now I am praising Him for my family. God is so good.
Oh no! Hope it feels better soon…until then bask in your sweet memories!
Time really goes by way too fast. treasure the time with your grand daughter. This post reminds me to slow down, smell the roses and count my blessings. Something as simple as the beautiful rainbow I saw this morning can bring us pleasure.
Ouch! My daughter did that when she was little and broke three of her fingers. I remember feeding my babies (grandtwins) thinking the exact same thing. It was only a blink of an eye and now we’re potty training.