When You Need a Holy Rewire–7 Ways to Slow Down

If you picked a word of the year, how ya doing? If you didn’t it’s never too late. My WOTY keeps kicking me across the room. But that’s the point right? To chose something I excel at, or easily focus on defeats the purpose— like the futility of spooning ice cream on a hot griddle, unless you want a super sweet liquid to drink…but then why not just buy chocolate milk??

My word—slow—lives in total opposition to my nature. I do want to move slowly. The concept seems like a good idea in my head, but whether my ninety-mile-an-hour actions are a genetic predisposition or just habits—they still burrow deep in my being. Often I catch myself in the middle of my whirlwind and realize I’ve blown it yet again. 

I watch quizzically with my head tilted like a pet pooch, observing those who do slow so very well. And I ponder, how do we change the seemingly unchangeable, the life language flowing freely from others yet so foreign to our own psyche?

Take my youngest whose wires plug in differently from the rest of the family. Even as a young child, you couldn’t rush him. Much of his laid-back personality is a carbon copy of his great grandfather. Never in a hurry, my grandpa slathered those in his life with kindness and gave people a precious commodity—time. He never zoomed by, always listened, and displayed deep compassion for his fellowman.

I don’t picture Jesus dashing around with his robes afire either. He spent exhaustive hours and days and years encircled by crowds, but he also knew when to withdraw from the crush of humanity. He healed the sick, saved the lost, mentored his devotees, and made sure to nourish his own soul.

“Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” Luke 5:16

After my baptism, I thought I could conquer the world—sword a flashin’—ready to take Satan head on that very day. Yet after Jesus baptism, he avoided a flashy showdown and withdrew to the desert. For forty days. He battled Satan in the quiet. Alone. Without distractions. Laser-focused. He didn’t try to take him on in the hurry.

And in the years to come, he modeled the path to a peaceful soul for his disciples. Withdraw. Be still. Pray. Listen. Recharge. No headlong rush. No buckling to the pressure of the mob. No guilt over those who won’t listen. Just do your best, take time to commune with God and receive strength for the onslaught.

Rush and recharge don’t mix any more than oil and water do. 

So how do I learn to be more like my son, my Grandfather and most of all, my Lord? I have to be intentional and flat out determined to change.

I confess—I need a holy rewire.

Seven ways to implement a rewire named SLOW: 

1. Pray for Holy intervention.
2. Place notecards on your mirror or reminders on your phone—for the absentminded like me.
3. Write verses on “slow” and “peaceful living” in your journal to meditate on. 
4. Place a bookmark in your bible with “slow” printed on it.
5. Talk to yourself—say “slow down,” ALOUD and often.
6. Take time to close your eyes and breathe deep every day.
7. Pick your action and add to it weekly. My first action? Slow down and drive the actual stinkin’ speed limit!

We have to let go of the hurry and learn to trust God’s timetable. He does slow impeccably and with breathtaking results. Think Moses—he was 80 when called. And remember David—who was anointed as a kid, worked for King Saul and then fled his two-faced sword for years before he finally became King.

Let God set our pace and we will find it to be perfect.

“This vision is for a future time.

    It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.

If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently,

    for it will surely take place.

    It will not be delayed.” Hab 2:3