The Keys to Slowing Down and Enjoying Life Now
So much beauty in life costs nothing: Sitting in church with the presence of God; warm white sand, mind-blowing scents, falling into bed at the end of an exhausting day, the colours of sunrise, deep conversations during candlelit dinners, laughter, deep love, peonies and honest tears.
In living quietly and slowing down, we lead purposeful and peaceful lives. There is far less room for comparison to steal our joy. There is far less room for anything other than to glorify God and enjoy life.
Slowing down quotes to remember – pin these on your vision board or fridge!
… aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
I feel the souls of my feet sink into the earth, humid and warm, and the sun pressing on my back. Loose light on the kitchen table and the piano out of key, smoothed across my fingertips. The old lawn and barn, all hazy and heavy with summer. Is life really so good, so simple, so here and now? Live a quiet and peaceful life, and one day you will weep at how good God is, and how faithful He is in the simplicity of it all.
Inspired by the longing in my soul for deep simplicity and a peaceful life, I offer you a list of three things to grow beauty and simplicity (things I’m working on, too).
1. Create space to slow down and worship God.
In my heart and home, creating a space to delight in God is still a work in progress. Living in a small home with a busy toddler doesn’t always go hand-in-hand with quiet and peaceful. And yet, there’s still pockets of time when he’s napping or once he’s gone to bed, where I have time and space to worship or pray or journal.
Create a space in your heart and home to hear His voice. Create a space you feel you can lift my eyes to Him. ‘Get up early and watch the sun rise. Like you open a window, open your heart to God. Open a window so you can breathe it all in, and one you heart wide to God. Open His Word. Linger. What you look upon is what your soul becomes like. Don’t face anything facing you – until you’ve faced Him: First 10minutes always with your First Love’ as Ann Voskamp so poignantly puts it.. And amen.
Open the windows of your heart and let Him all in.
2. Don’t let comparison steal your joy
The dance of life
The song of life
The masterpiece of life –
is here and now, woven with past memories, a beautiful tapestry pointing to God’s faithfulness.
Do you give your affection to things money cannot buy? Do you give your attention to noticing what other have rather than acknowledging who God is and what He has done, and praising Him?
Comparison is a mirror to our own hearts (a beautiful friend recently shared about this and I’d encourage you to listen, too!)
Where are you getting your identity from? What is the instability attached to?
Our identity and self worth comes from God and what He says over us.
Slow down, Lean Back, Live in This Moment.
3. Savour this moment (slowing down quotes)
Slow down, life isn’t a race!
Life isn’t a performance
Life isn’t merely a cacophony of ideas
Live a life quiet enough that you find yourself –
Slowing down to lie in the sun
Wading barefoot in the stream
Laughing at the dog rolling through the sand
Feeling the steady beat of another heart as you rest
I hope you’re inspired to bask in the simplicity of life today, to throw your cares to the wind and to seek first the Kingdom of God. He is faithful.
For the mountains shall depart nd the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall my covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
Isaiah 54:10
You may also enjoy:
Lacking Clarity? Here are 5 steps to clear your mind.
Swallowed into Silence: The Importance of Rest
images and text copyright Acacia Chenda
slow down quotes
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