SLOW ME DOWN, LORD!
by Wilfred A. Peterson (1900 - 1995)
Slow me down, Lord! Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my harried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amidst the confusions of my day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations,
of slowing down to look at a flower; to chat with an old friend
or make a new one; to pat a stray dog; to watch a spider build a web; to smile at a child; or to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day that the race is not always to the swift; that there is more to life
than increasing its speed.
Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values, that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.
