Slow Down!

April 12, 2023

How do you ease up? There is so much that calls out to me, that needs to be done. I feel like I’m running hard, but it’s uphill. Ever feel that way? It’s similar to those times at a buffet when “your eyes are bigger than your stomach,” when you want to pile more on your plate than you can comfortably eat.

I need to focus! I’m trying to look at too many things at once.

While driving through Amish country in Pennsylvania, it always seems amazing that a horse and buggy can navigate along the side of a busy highway. Why doesn’t the horse get spooked? Doesn’t it make him anxious that cars are whizzing by at fifty-five miles an hour? The secret is the blinders. The buggy’s driver has supplied the horse with a leather ‘hat’ that only allows him to see where he’s supposed to be going, straight ahead. The blinders block the horse’s vision to each side.

That’s my problem. I’m seeing too much that has nothing to do with where I need to go.

Now, I don’t want to be narrow-minded. I just don’t want my focus to be ruined by competing opportunities. I don’t enjoy being anxious, do you?

Using that analogy of the Amish horse and buggy, the driver knows where the horse needs to go. God knows the direction we need to go, but doesn’t force blinders on us. He offers guidelines that will help us keep moving in the right direction. We don’t always accept the guidelines.

“He has told you, O Man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?”