My family loves playing games together, and recently, my husband and I introduced our kids to Dutch Blitz. It’s a fast-paced card game, which means lots of screaming and shouting in our home. We get very excited when our blitz pile is empty and we win the round.
While being the fastest player in Dutch Blitz is fun, it made me wonder if fast is good and slow is bad. In our world, we live at lightning speed. If we want to keep up and be productive, we need to move quickly. The rat race of life feels normal to many of us. But is that sustainable? Healthy? Biblical?
I’d argue that we can’t keep up with this impossibly fast pace if we want to live emotionally healthy and spiritually strong lives. We must learn how to slow down.
As I read Exodus 3 this morning, God reminded me of this truth once again. At the start of the chapter, we see Moses tending his father-in-law’s flock and arriving at Mount Sinai. There, he observes a burning bush. Moses could have thought, That’s odd, and kept moving. I’m sure he had many tasks to complete and sheep to tend.
But instead, Moses said, “I will now turn aside…” (verse 3). Moses paused. He wasn’t distracted. He wasn’t preoccupied. He wasn’t rushing from one thing to the next. He slowed down and took notice.
And what’s interesting is that once God saw Moses turn aside, God called to him. If you’re anything like me, you long to hear God call your name. But we often question if God is even speaking to us. We can use Moses as an example here and ask ourselves, are we drawing near to God first? Are we pausing long enough to notice and turn aside?
Having morning devotions is wonderful, but what if we paused throughout our day? What if we intentionally looked for God moving? What would that look like? I think it would look like less screen time, more eye contact, and less multitasking.
God wants to show Himself strong to us, but we can’t hear His voice if we’re living at lightning speed. Have you ever intentionally slowed down? Here are three easy-to-implement ideas to help you slow down and notice God at work this week.
#1 Don’t Look At Your Phone Right When You Wake Up
I use my phone as an alarm clock, and I have to be honest; it takes a lot of self-control not to start scrolling right after I turn my alarm off. It starts innocently. Let me just check the weather today. Then, 15 minutes later, I’m scrolling Instagram. What would happen if we lived the first hour of the day without a screen? It could help us slow down and set the tone for the day.
#2 Do a Chore Without Multitasking
When was the last time you drove in the car in silence? Or cleaned the dishes and folded the laundry without turning on a podcast episode? We often turn on background noise to keep us company, but is this causing us to overstimulate our minds? What if we cleared our minds this week by turning things off and doing chores without distraction? When was the last time you let your mind wander? You may be amazed at how calm you feel without the stress of multitasking.
#3 Enter Quiet Time Without an Agenda
While I love devotionals and Bible reading plans, I’ve found I sometimes miss God’s voice because I go into quiet time with an agenda. Instead of asking God, what do you want me to notice today? What do you want to say to me? I go in with a long list of prayer requests and ways I want God to move on my behalf. It’s not wrong to ask God for help. The Bible tells us to present our requests to Him (Philippians 4:6). But there is also power in sitting, being still, and seeing where the Holy Spirit leads us.
Do you struggle with being distracted? What’s keeping you from turning aside and noticing God? Take time this week to break your fast-paced habits and intentionally slow down. I’d love to hear what you notice!
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