“My husband, Philippe, grew up in Belgium. His parents and all five of his siblings and their families still live in Europe. When visiting, I’ve noticed that many Europeans operate at a slower everyday pace. They live slowly enough to achieve their goals without neglecting their faith, family or health. They eat leisurely meals together. If they see a friend at the grocery store, they stop and talk. They stroll in the park…
We, on the other hand, assume that our days need to be filled with activities identical to those of the surrounding culture, and that our kids need to participate in a long list of sports and music enrichment programs in order to get ahead in life.
This default mode – these automatic assumptions – has left us with anemic relationships with both the Lord and each other.
Something is seriously wrong…busyness and hurry are killing us…
Our family is attempting to slow down in all kinds of ways.
…To be safe, we need to anchor our choices in a person – Jesus Christ – and we need to weigh them against His Word. For everyone who yearns for the benefits of a slower life, I want to point to Jesus and say, ‘start here. Start with the One who offers true and lasting peace. Look to His Word. Meditate on that. Learn from Him, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light.’
When I slow myself and spend time with the Lord, when I invest in my family and friends, when I live out my faith attentively and deliberately, I feel my scattered self settled. I find peace.”
~~ taken from the introduction of Not So Fast: Slow-Down Solutions for Frenzied Families
Slowly and quietly,
I totally agree with this. Sounds like this would be a good read. Have you read “Simplicity Parenting”? He basically says the same thing (it’s not Christian though).
I actually had one acquaintance get on me about homeschooling because how would DS be able to be involved in all the sports and music and everything else programs hers were? I’m sorry, but I don’t want DS to play 5 instruments (well) AND at least one sport a season, as well as keep up straight A’s. Lucky for her, her girls have turned into well-adjusted young adults doing very well in college. But I wouldn’t ask that of any kid.
I also totally agree. Our boys play two sports, one in the fall and one in the winter. But we take the spring and summer off just we CAN have those long, leisurely days. I have been hounded this year to let them play baseball because “they’re such good athletes and they would love it”. No thank you. We’d rather enjoy our long summer days in the pool and grilling with dad.
Love this! And so true. I had a small experience in this but for different reasons. We were covered up in therapies for Carmyn. When we slowed down and just became a family, everyone grew and thrived. Lesson learned for sure.
I read this book sometime ago ~ but still find it soooo hard to slow down the pace… Spring and summer is downtime for us, since we can do so much together as a family, from working in the yard, swimming, to going on weekend camping trips…
That downtime is needed to regroup and grow…
I’ve always wanted to read this book, Candace. Thanks for reminding me!