“…our spiritual enemy is always enticing us to speed. This is the fatallest of fatal things.” Frederick Faber (1814-1863)
I’m personally discovering that there are some days in which there seems to be an extra amount of external pulls – do this, do that, quicker, faster, NOW! Of course, sometimes these are unavoidable and we simply have to do what needs to be done and do it quickly. However, I’m wondering if there are days and moments when these seemingly external influences (and the subsequent pressure we feel to hurry up) are actually pointing to an internal struggles against hurry and the enemy’s attempts to get us to speed up our life so that we ultimately live distracted and disjointed.
I like to think of these as “yellow light” moments.
When I’m driving and the approaching light turns yellow, I have to make the decision to either step on the gas and race against the red light or I can choose to slow down and wait for the next green light. There are times when the pressure of the clock tells me, “Step on it!”. Then there are times when I feel the freedom to slow down and wait.
I wonder if something similar happens in our daily life. Are there moments when we need to recognize that the “light is yellow” and we need to make a choice to either speed up and risk it or slow down and wait? I think so. I don’t think God desires for us to be lazy, but I do believe that God wants us to live a healthy and balanced and unhurried life. Sure, life gets busy sometimes, even Jesus had busy days. But, Jesus did not live a life that was constantly rushed and on the move. He made time to slow down, to pause, to wait. If we follow Jesus, we should learn to do the same.
When we feel the pressure of the “yellow light” – the pressure to hurry up – perhaps we can learn to take a deep breath and ask our self the tough questions such as:
- why do I feel the need to hurry – is it due to procrastination on my part or is it because I feel the need to please someone else?
- what would happen if I paused or slowed down?
- is God inviting me in this moment to pause and look to him?
- if Jesus where with me in this moment (which he is after all) what would he advise me to do?
So, do you ever have “yellow light moments”? How have you responded to them?
thanks to this post by Alan Fadling for inspiration: http://alanfadling.com/2010/05/24/spiritual-formation-health-and-wholeness/
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Recognizing “yellow light momnets” are critical. I think this posting definately is profound and carries immense depth that you can't take in with just reading once. Like you said in your post, we never know if we will miss God if we rush through the light and don't slow down. That is the key element to this idea. When we rush through lights we miss sight of the people God is pushing into our lives to touch or the moments we can make a huge difference.
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Melissa, thanks for your comment! You hit on an important thing – when we rush we aren’t just missing out on what is good for us, we miss out on opportunities to serve others in God-pleasing ways.
Melissa, thanks for your comment! You hit on an important thing – when we rush we aren’t just missing out on what is good for us, we miss out on opportunities to serve others in God-pleasing ways.
Melissa, thanks for your comment! You hit on an important thing – when we rush we aren’t just missing out on what is good for us, we miss out on opportunities to serve others in God-pleasing ways.
Melissa, thanks for your comment! You hit on an important thing – when we rush we aren't just missing out on what is good for us, we miss out on opportunities to serve others in God-pleasing ways.