Yesterday I talked about how I usually only have two gears: Top and Park. I know that God is working to develop other gears in me. To that end, in response to yesterday’s post, my friend Sara left me the following message:
You said that slowing down is kind of flying in a holding pattern, but I feel like God wants me to tell you it’s not. A holding pattern wastes time and fuel, it’s frustrating and usually accomplishes nothing. Instead, I feel like living life in this middle gears is more like a drive down Route 66, yeah there are faster ways to get where you’re going and sometimes those faster ways are fun (especially in the right car. 🙂 ) but other times you have to get off the highway and take the locals. There are diners to eat at, shops to visit and people to meet on these slow paced detours, but you never regret them and they are never a waste of time. So don’t just fly in circles and waste your fuel, instead take a breath and enjoy the scenery.
You said that slowing down is kind of flying in a holding pattern, but I feel like God wants me to tell you it’s not. A holding pattern wastes time and fuel, it’s frustrating and usually accomplishes nothing. Instead, I feel like living life in this middle gears is more like a drive down Route 66, yeah there are faster ways to get where you’re going and sometimes those faster ways are fun (especially in the right car. 🙂 ) but other times you have to get off the highway and take the locals. There are diners to eat at, shops to visit and people to meet on these slow paced detours, but you never regret them and they are never a waste of time. So don’t just fly in circles and waste your fuel, instead take a breath and enjoy the scenery.Well, Sara. That sounds like wisdom. I have never been one for the middle. Mid Gears to me seemed like trying, but not trying hard enough. My young and dumb mentality has done me well and caused me pain. I know that the balance of the middle is where I’m being led.
Thanks for helping me shape that a bit more in my thinking. It is not simply resigning myself to neutral, or just as you put it “wasting fuel.” You are so right. This is going to be where I need to learn to not just spend most of my life, but to LIVE most of my life. Every now and then I will have the right opportunities or the right locations to gas it up and coast full speed, but most of the time I need to be able to find a pace, find a steady flow, to sit in the pocket of life where God and I just share space and I listen to his voice so clearly. When I’m parked it is very easy to hear Him telling me to get moving, which I respond with, “Ok, time for full speed ahead.”
Route 66 living huh?