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Slowing Your Soul Through The Seasons

We’ve been focusing on the idea that to live the lessons Jesus taught, we must adopt the lifestyle Jesus lived. We do this by building into our lives the keystone habits Jesus modelled: silence and solitude, sabbath, simplicity, and scripture reading.

Today, let’s consider the overall rhythm and pace of Jesus’ life.

Our world celebrates speed. We love fast cars, fast athletes, fast food. We get rewarded at school for finishing fastest. What gets rewarded gets repeated. So here we are, obsessed with speed and living with artificial urgency, always desperate to move on to the next thing as quickly as possible. But this faster-is-better mentality is perhaps your greatest soul-care obstacle. Tending to the garden of your inner life requires embracing a slower pace.

Jesus’ life on Earth stands in stark contrast to society’s current speed. Not once was Jesus in a hurry. He didn’t run to appointments. Of course, while walking everywhere was one of Jesus’ keystone habits, people often ran to Jesus with very real, dire needs. Jairus hurries to find Jesus because his daughter is dying. No artificial urgency. Critical need. Jesus agrees to accompany Jairus to heal her. Along the way, a woman who’s been bleeding for twelve years – another desperate need – touches the fringe of Jesus’ robe in faith. She’s healed. Jesus realises what’s happened, stops, and lovingly, patiently engages with her.

I wonder if Jairus was frustrated by the delay. Why wasn’t Jesus rushing to save his daughter’s life? In fact, by the time Jesus reaches Jairus’ house, she’s dead. But Jesus raises her to life – an even more spectacular miracle than just healing. And Mark records some astonishing detail: the girl is twelve years old; the woman has been bleeding for twelve years. For twelve years, Jesus knew this day was coming. He didn’t rush to get to it. He was right on time, only ever walking at the pace of grace. And as we follow Him, we can learn to walk at the pace of grace too.

Dallas Willard, when asked for the secret to the Christian life, responded: ‘You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.’ But how?

1. Identify situations in which you’re prone to hurry. Driving? Waiting in line? Meetings?
2. Change your habits in those environments. Drive in the slow lane. Get to meetings a little early; take a moment to catch your breath and be still. Pick the longest line wherever you’re queuing.
3. In these moments of waiting and slow living, pray. Focus your attention on God’s love. Ask Him how you can extend His love to others while you’re waiting.
4. Record moments when you experience God’s love or have a chance to extend God’s love to someone else because you’ve chosen to live slowly. This will increase your faith to keep living at the pace of grace.

Slow living is like seasons for the soul. Like a garden, our souls need all four, slowly passing seasons to thrive. May you trust God with your schedule, remembering that love and hurry are incompatible. May you begin to enjoy living patiently, fully present to each moment.

This plan was adapted from the video series, Soul Care, on RightNow Media. To learn more about RightNow Media, visit: https://www.rightnowmedia.org/au/get-access