Slow down...

I've been getting some knee and hip pain after workout sessions in the gym. It didn't feel like anything serious, it could just be a sign of aging, but I thought it might be a good idea to pay my physiotherapist a visit and see what she thinks. My physiotherapist knows me pretty well, she knows I workout quite often and I tend to favor the aggressive strenuous cardio-workouts over other exercises. As she assessed me, she said that it's good that I'm cardio-focused, but I need to start to mix it up a bit. She said that sometimes doing things slow is better than fast, form is more important than speed. Then she said, "you should slow down a bit". This struck me hard. It is true that when we exercise, form is very important because if our form is wrong, we are doing ourselves more harm than good. I realized that I've been so focused on increasing my cardiac output with speed and number that I forgot the importance of doing it right. In other words, I need to slow down and do it right...

This made me reflect on the way I go through life in general. I've always been one of those people that's always on the go. My mind is always going a mile a second and words come out of my mouth before I can fully process them. I walk fast, I talk fast, I like multitasking. I don't know how many times I've gotten the comment "you walk pretty fast for such a small person". Patience has never been my strong suit, I've always been quick to decide, quick to say, quick to do because I don't like wasting time. Although there are benefits in that, there are also harms. When we speed through life, we don't think thoroughly of the consequences of our words, our actions, and our decisions. When we speed through life, we also fail to appreciate all that's around.

A pastor came to our church the other day and he gave a sermon on reaching out. He told us a story of a man who died while climbing Mount Everest. He said that the officials estimated that over 30 hikers probably walked passed him while he was in distress, but no one stopped to help the man. The pastor said often this is how we go through life. We become so focused on climbing our own summit in life that we fail to see the people in distress around us. The reason I brought this up is because when we speed through life, we stop seeing the needs of the people around us as well. Whether they are our friends, neighbors, family members, strangers...they all become a blur to us. We stop noticing and stop taking interest in their needs and their distress. It is God's command for us to help those in needs. Whether these needs are physical needs, emotional needs, or spiritual needs, we need to slow down and keep our eyes peeled for them. 

"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35

The other trap I often fall in because of my impatience occurs during prayer time. When I pray, I want answers right away and I want things to happen right away. When God doesn't answer my prayers right away, instead of waiting, I start to lose patience and I start to do things my way. That's when I fall into various traps and make mistakes. An analogy for this would be going through life is like venturing through a dark dangerous forest. We have no idea how to get across the forest, but Jesus does. He is our tour guide and he knows all the right path to take and how to avoid the dangers, all we have to do is follow Him. But when we are impatient and we get ahead of Him, that's when we get lost and get into trouble. Jesus reminded us often throughout the bible to slow down and wait for Him.

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him..." Psalm 37:7

We need to be reminded that God's timing is better than our timing. A lot of times when things don't happen right away, there are reasons. We need to trust that when we wait for Him, greater things can happen.

"but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

We've all heard of the saying "Slow and steady wins the race". It's time for us to slow down and wait for the Lord so we can win the race in life.