Slow Down

The words ‘slow down’ tend to fall on two ends of the spectrum for many. These words are either viewed as absolutely impossible or the only way to live, since soft living is in these days. Often times the tendency is to power through, take on a grin and bear it mentality and simply hope for whatever you are powering through to eventually let up.

I can easily see this mindset as the origin of the saying, ‘hindsight is always 20/20’. Culminating from countless experiences of people making it to the other side and finally seeing everything they missed while powering through. To be fair, there are some things you won’t see until you make it to the other side but too often there are a number of things that we blatantly miss. Slowing down is not a curse but rather an opportunity. An opportunity for what? Well, first let’s take a look at scripture.

It has often been noted that Jesus would take time from the crowd and go away to be alone. Take a look at this miracle recorded in John 6: 1-13. Jesus takes a kids 2 piece with extra bread and feeds the 5000 ( vs. 9 documents it as 2 fish and 5 barely loaves). Many say the 5000 only accounts for the men and if including the women and children the crowd could have easily been upwards of 15,000- 20,000 people. The moral of this story is the Jesus did the miraculous and when the people saw it they believed. They believed in Jesus as the Messiah and were ready to make Him their King (vs. 14). Jesus did not bask in the glory of the moment, He did not regard their belief as the big win and allow Himself to be put in a position that wasn’t part of God’s plan for Him. Verse 15 tells us that when Jesus perceived that they were going to force Him to be King, He slipped away into the hills by Himself.

Jesus slowed down. He knew God’s plan was much larger than taking on the role of a physical King. He could have powered through, rode the wave of the miracle and the people’s conversion, and figured the rest out later. Instead, He stepped away to be alone. What happens when we take time away? We focus, regroup, pray, get in alignment with what we know is right, and grow in understanding of what’s ahead. Perhaps, in our time alone we do nothing but still feel exhausted or perhaps we rest and actually enjoy being refreshed. Whatever happened up in those hills we know it positioned Jesus for the next part of God’s plan to reveal Himself to us through His son and to save humanity from sin.

The next thing that Jesus encountered was a storm that He quite literally walked right through. So much happens in this chapter of John. I encourage you to read it, if you haven’t already but I will leave you with this. Life is comprised of many different moments and slowing down just may be the bridge to help us not lose ourselves in the good moments or drown in the storms.

-Brittney