Missing It

A few years ago, when my hubby and I were in the throes of running an addiction recovery ministry, we were hustling. Striving. Moving so fast most days we were a blur.

We had four kids in all the things and we thought we were really living. We had high visibility, some really cool experiences (can you say White House?), and thought we’d be there forever.

We didn’t know it at the time, but we were missing it.

Our family was splintering, our kids were struggling, and turns out, we were barely hanging on by a thread.

We were so constantly busy that we were missing it all.

And then the Lord asked us to let it go.

Let go of our baby? The ministry we birthed? No way! Surely he’s not asking us to do that.

But he was.

A few weeks later we found ourselves in a global pandemic. Everything was suddenly different.

We spent the next few years slowed down to near screeching halt, schooling at home, and getting to know our family all over again. It was the best time we never knew we needed.

As the world spoiled back up we took a look at where we had been and where we were, then we made the conscious decision not to go fast again. Hustle was no longer going to be part of our vocabulary. We were going to choose to go slow.

By intentionally letting the Lord redeem our time, we were no longer trying to keep up with the Joneses or anyone else. We were just trying to live in the present, be grateful and content where we were, and savor each moment we could.

This meant sacrifices—downsizing to a smaller house, making less money so we could spend more time at home, avoiding the comparison trap—but every one of them has proven worth it.

This slow living means more front porch sittin’, more homecooked dinners together at the table, more priceless moments and mementoes woven into our family fabric.

Now we’re missing things like hurry, packed schedules, rushing, commuting in crazy traffic, and grabbing fast-food before falling into bed exhausted every day.

That doesn’t hurt my feelings at all.