March 2, 2017 – Life’s Speed Limits

We rush through life now. Needing to fit in this meeting, that conversation. What’s next on my to-do list?  Where is my to-do list?  We have even have apps that keep a list of our different to-do lists, tell us when to leave to make it on time, or tracks how on-task we are while plugged in to the nether-web.  We schedule family time, friend time, gym time, prayer time,  me time, you time. It’s all laid out in chunks of half hours and quarter-tills. Human life seems to be hurling itself at an exponentially faster rate, an en masse group of juggernauts on a collision course with exhaustion.

But along the way, there are road signs.  Road signs telling us where a rest stop is, or our destination.  Warning signs that nature might just cross our path or to slow down because their are children at play right in front of us.  There are stop signs and yield signs and big ol’ no U-turn signs, but we blow right past them.  We see a majestic sunset on our way home and think to ourselves, “I wish I had time to enjoy this.” We thumb type our oh-so-important emails while there are children playing next to us.  We disregard the warning signs that tell us to stop for a moment and yield to the momentary joy surrounding us that we mistakenly see as the mundane in our rear-view mirrors.  We disregard our self-knowledge and continue to make the same U-turns because there is no time to stop, no time to reflect and definitely no time to choose a different path.

There are speed limits on the road of life.  It’s the to-do list that will never really be done because we keep finding ways to add to it.  They are posted in the building anxiety as you squeeze every second and monopolize each minute.  There they hang on the unread book, the hung up hobby, the tinny whine in your child’s plead to just play with him.  Signs posted, peeking through the sunrises we skip and the rain in which we refuse to dance.

When you are feeling run down, worn out, anxious or out of place, you are.  Slow down. Get off at the next exit. Find a something new in your world that may bring you peace. Put down the phone, say no to the next proposal, leave the to-do list to be done. You’ll still make it in time. You might even find something better than what you thought you would.