RUSH HOUR

I noticed that my heart was beating fast, like faster than normal and solely because I felt rushed. No one was breathing down my neck about anything, and I didn’t have any deadlines to meet. It was self imposed. I added the R- factor because I needed to feel like I was doing something, being useful, accomplishing, producing. I needed to compensate for, honestly I don’t even know what. 

To explain how rushed I felt, my body joined the party by sweating buckets. Mind you I had just gotten out of the shower, and the temperature in le’ crib was cool. Like 69 degrees cool. Then a thought came to me, and you know what, it is just so like God to drop these reminders in my spirit. He reminds me to calm down, encourages me to relax, and sometimes, I feel literally holds me so that I can be still. He cares so much, and would rather not see me crash and burn.

Jesus walked. 

That is all I heard. The thought that plopped right into the drop box of my mind. But oh it made a splash!

Instantly, I stopped. Took a deeeeeep breath in, exhaled sloooooowly. Picked up my phone, and typed this all up. 

We are all in a hurry. But the joke is many of us are in a hurry to nowhere because we have not taken a second to even think, let alone plan or strategize. We have this false belief that moving is a sign of progress. But I have found that in a game of chess for example, intentionality is the rule of the game. Strategizing requires that you stop and think, then move. There is a goal, and it is to come out on top, victorious. You need not be pressed by the superfluous need to look busy.

Jesus was never pressed, and even when he had a mode of transportation, it was quite possibly the slowest available option – a donkey. You see, donkeys are much slower than their cousins, horses. They subscribe to the slow run crew, aka jogging. But the cool thing is, they persevere because they can maintain a steady, consistent pace for a long period of time without tiring. Jesus had his reasons for choosing a donkey, the primary one being that it signified peace. See, strategy. So it seems that both Jesus and the donkey maintained an enviable pace of cool, calm and collected.

Consider this, as slow as the tortoise is, he eventually gets to his destination, and is not concerned about who got there first. All he feels is I imagine, relief for finally getting there, but more so fulfilled.

I am not saying be a sloth. Please do not be slothful. What I am saying is that God is not bound by time. He has plans for you, and he wants to walk you through them, hand in hand. To know the plan, you have to hear Him. To hear Him, you have to know Him. To know Him, you have to stop and breathe in His fullness, in His presence. Time with God is the foundational part of your strategy.

I am encouraging you to trust Him to lead you, so that with each step, irrespective of pace, the plan becomes more plain. You are also alert to possible pitfalls or threats, because you have taken the time to survey. And once at your destination, you are not out of breath, frazzled, sweaty, unravelled, hysterical and whatever other adjectives come to mind…but basically a mess! hehe

There is a need to having a fire within you about fulfilling your purpose, but do not attach a self aggrandizing urgency, i.e. ‘rush’ God for the sake of accolades and the acceptance of man. You are working on God’s timeline, not yours. Calm down. Breathe in. Exhale. Chill. Maintain your cool. God’s got you boo!

Your pace is still progress.

Happy monyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

💛

picture: @pinterest