Lesson Learned on the Road - Sometimes I Have to Slow Down

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, 

as some understand slowness. 

He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, 

but everyone to come to repentance.

1 Peter 3:9

A blue sky embraced me as I strolled from the cafe to my car. With one hand on my door handle and the other poised to answer my incoming call, I pulled the phone to my ear to the words, "You're right, Dear, I have cancer."

Life slowed down for me that day. I breathed in release as I held my husband, family and future up to God's capable hands. Three months later my precious husband would undergo a radical prostatectomy to eradicate the cancer from his body.

His recovery slowed him down. That first Sunday back at church I dropped him at the front door, checked our little ones into the nursery, used the restroom and still made it to our seats before he did. It took him almost 30 minutes to walk a few hundred yards.

His new, slower pace changed his perspective. He saw people he never noticed before.

The elderly woman struggling through the paces of her day.
The homeless man praying for generosity and the strength to navigate another hopeless day.
The wheel-chair bound youth staring into a future a few feet short of the one he'd imagined.

Sometimes when I'm running I have to slow down too. A slower pace is necessary to cover the distance. When I decelerate I see things I wouldn't otherwise notice. 

The man whose need for achievement shouts at his son to keep the lawn perfect.
My anorexic neighbor who walks with her companion self-loathing for hours every day.
The elderly woman who watches life pass but doesn't participate.

I have to slow down to see the hurting - to connect at their pace. I have to slow down to connect my heart to God's so I can see the people for whom He patiently waits.

Is life flying by you today? Whom might you notice if you just throttled back a bit?