The World in Slow Motion

The world bustles around, being busy and planning and doing and moving.  It's humbling when we can't.  Sometimes, we are forced to stop-- to slow down and rest.

Today, in Kansas City, is one of those days.  A snow storm covers us and has brought the city to a slow crawl.  Schools are out and many businesses are closed.  The snow still falls, dense and quick, accumulating over everything.  It's beautiful.

So, what do we do when we are forced to slow, when we are forced to rest?  Are we restless?  Do we try to keep moving while hating every minute of being stuck wherever we are?  Do we catch up on our chores and clean our homes?

I am. I do and I did...lol.

What then?

What do you do?  Do you rest?  Do you focus on taking a breath? Is it possible to empty your mind and enjoy the quiet moments of days like today?

The world is in fact a busy place.  It can overwhelm and overtake your focus from more important things.  It can distract.  I remembered that this morning as I forced myself to take a walk.

I am fortunate enough to live and take care of a farm in southeast Kansas City.  It's slightly more than 40 acres, half open and half wooded.  It's beautiful and peaceful.  And on days like today, I'm forced to slow down and really look at what's surrounding me.

So, I took a walk this morning as the snow fell fast.  My feet crunched on the fresh fallen 4 inches as I walked back into a deep part of the wooded property and I found a quiet spot on a fallen tree and sat down.  I closed my eyes.  The cold specks of snow pattering against my face and clothes; my breath, a cloudy puff at every exhale.  And silence.  Rest.  I could almost hear the snow settle to the ground but not quite.  It was beautiful.  I sat there, in that beauty, for what must have been close to an hour.  I walked around a little more, just watching and observing.

God slowed things down.

He gave a day where I'd have to stop and be reminded that I can't always run.  Sometimes, I have to walk.  Sometimes, I have to rest.  Sometimes, we have to remember what life can be outside the ebb and the flow and the rush of it.

Sometimes, we need to just be in a world slowed down.  Rest.

Brice