Slow Me Down, Lord
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with the eternal reach of time.
Give me, midst the confusion of my day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves, 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 making minute vacations, of slowing down
To look at a flower,
To chat with an old friend or make a new one;
To pat a dog; to watch a spider build a web;
To smile at a child; or to read from a good book.
Remind me each day,
That the race is not always to the swift;
That there is more to life than increasing its speed.
Let me look upward into the towering oak and know that
it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values, that I may grow towards the stars of my greater destiny.
-- Wilferd A. Peterson