Dear Happy Asses,
I am recalling a story from When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd. As a child, she was reminded that little girls don’t stop by the creek with the boys to catch tadpoles, and that she needed to go up to the house and tend to more “domestic” things. (I am not so much for the domestic things either.)
One day, her housekeeper, Sweet, took her on a walk into town and said, “Let’s take the long way around.” Sue was impatient and couldn’t understand the need for that, but when they came upon a slow-moving body of water, she realized that tadpoles abounded. Sue played and captured tadpoles without reservation. Sweet looked at her and said, “See, sometimes it’s best to take the long way around… because there ain’t no tadpoles going the short way.”
I think I am like that so many times. I want the fast and easy. I don’t want to sit in the waiting, and if I am in the waiting, I want to fill it up with something else. But, I have found that in the waiting is where my imagination is born; where I can think for a moment; where I can hear more clearly. I tend to want to fill the space. But in those quiet, still times, I can hear the voice that shows me a better way. Sometimes, in that stillness, I am made more whole. My nervous system can slow down and do what it was designed to do without being supercharged and revved up.
I am learning to create more white space, more margin, and to find time to take the long way around. I know what is best for me, but if I am not careful, my speed gets pushed into overdrive and I forget that there are all kinds of beautiful things found along that longer path.
I have read this book several times, and I want to read it again because I believe there is still so much for me to learn in the stillness… and in choosing the long way around. I only have one shot at this life, and if I rush through it, I may miss some of the most beautiful gifts God has prepared for me.
I am thankful, though, that my morning practice gives me a place to be still and not rush through life. I miss so much when I am moving too fast. So I sit, and I pray, and I visualize… and I ask God to remind me to slow this happy ass down and enjoy all of it!!!
Grateful,
Karen
