“Take heart: Growing Slow will actually make you better at what you do, not worse. But your focus is no longer on the pace of your growth. Instead, it’s on the depth of your roots.”- Jennifer Dukes Lee
“Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. The your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”- Colossians 2:7 (NIV)
Jennifer Dukes Lee concludes Chapter 1 of Growing Slow as she asserts that we can attain a simpler life through making deliberate and thoughtful choices. Consequently, a Growing Slow mindset enables us to harness the rhythm of our ordinary lives. Therefore, we choose to protest the accelerated pace that always demands more.
Hence, a Growing Slow mindset rescues us from the rim of exhausted living. Because, Jennifer underscores, when you grow slow you grow deep. Certainly, early Christians from Colossae understood the value of deep-rooted growth. Fields yielding olives and figs surrounded the city. In addition, farmers pastured sheep. This contributed to a thriving wool industry. Indeed, deep roots mattered to these first-century Christians.
As the apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians, God created us for slow growth. This produces deep roots that grow strong in truth. In the 1980s, Carlo Petrini spurred a global movement toward ‘slow food.’ That quality and pleasure define eating. Rather than swift production. Evidence that we really can slow down.
Finally, Jennifer notes, centuries ago people wished someone ‘Godspeed’ when embarking on a journey. Literally, Godspeed means may God cause you to succeed. Or what Eugene Peterson refers to as the ‘unforced rhythms of grace.’
Therefore, Jennifer exhorts:
“Let’s slow to the pace of Godspeed, matching step by step the unforced rhythms of grace. You don’t have to hurry anymore. Your pace is your pace, and it will get you to the place God has prepared for you. For now, perhaps that place is right here in your ordinary life. Get hold of this truth, and hold it with all your might.”
Today’s question: What Bible verses place your focus on the depth of your roots? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “When cynicism creeps up like weeds”
