Dear Reader:
Isn’t it strange how you can hear or read something and you nod but move on….and then later in life find yourself identifying with every verse written? That happened to me when I came across the poem “Slow Me Down Lord.” I remember putting it on the blog a few years ago and smiling to myself about the truth behind it…but this time I felt my soul was reading it aloud to me.
Slow Me Down Lord
Slow me down Lord
Ease the pounding of my heart
by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace
with a vision of the eternal march of time.
Give me amid the confusion of the day,
the calmness of the eternal hills.
Break the tension of my nerves and muscles
with the soothing music of the singing streams
that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking MINUTE vacations,
Of slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend,
to pat a dog,
to read a few lines of a good book.
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.
…………………………………
The poem is right where I am now :“Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams
that live in my memory” reminds me of the little spring behind St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope….what wonderful memories I associate with its soothing sounds streaming over rocks and stones.
Brooke, you would have been jealous….all those troublesome barrels on Highway 61 were gone and a freshly tarred road took us to the eye surgery center. We did see a few trees down but someone must have been out early moving them onto the side of the highway. It was “Clear Sailing”….and even tropical depression “Julia” cooperated by vacating the coast so we had a nice dry trip to and from the surgery center.
This time the only obstacle was Anne’s car, itself, that we nicknamed Contrary for the elite group of Plains Indians who lived their lives backwards. If they were told to ‘come here’….they walked away, hot meant cold, speak up mean be silent…their whole lives were spent doing just the opposite of what the situation required.
Anne’s “Contrary” car we think might be dyslexic…she went to push her seat back and it threw her forward against the steering wheel, her visor keeps falling down blocking her vision, her roof upholstery is falling down, rolled down windows roll back up….you get it. A crazy ride to and from the surgery center.
I was the first one there, got called back, and was in surgery before eight this time….it was 9:00 on the dot when we walked back in the house. We ate a very early brunch/lunch with turkey and ham sandwiches and then I walked outside to speak to my neighbor, Vickie and tell Anne good-bye. Look at Vickie’s and my rose bush….fourth blooming this year.
So until tomorrow…Anne said she knew everything would be okay yesterday when she read this line of scripture from her daily devotional for me: My God Wink for the Day (or so I thought)
Psalm 36:9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
*God wasn’t through with me and God Winks about Light. Last night, on a “whim” (a little after 7:00) I went outside and was immediately drawn by the most unusual but intoxicatingly beautiful sunset filled with pinks and oranges.
I, then, looked up and there was a rainbow-(God’s promise to me that He is with me all the time)….two minutes later it was gone…but I saw it and then all kinds of beautiful lights began popping as I snapped photos of God’s Light while a soft rain (that came out of nowhere) fell on me. “In Your Light, we see Light.”
It is God’s rainbow telling me (like the dolphin earlier) that all is well with the world….and everything is just as it should be.
What had originally caught my attention was the way the fading sunlight was catching certain branches on the towering tall pines and setting one branch aglow on each tree….like gold….like this:
*Yesterday, upon returning from eye surgery I saw where I had a recording from my surgeon’s office reminding me of my appointment Monday at 1:30. So it looks like that is how I will learn the results of the surgery/pathology report. Just wanted to let you know.
