For Summer - Slow me down, Lord!

Last weekend I had a discernment retreat for the Wellstreams program as I have completed my first two (of 5) semesters to becoming a spiritual director. This is one of the closing prayers that was shared. It speaks to me


Slow me down, Lord!
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my harried pace
With a vision of the eternal reach of time

Give me....amidst the confusions of my day,
the calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tensions of my nerves
with the soothing music of the singing streams
that live in my memory.

Help me to know...the magical power of sleep
Teach me the art .... Of taking minute vacations of slowing down.

To look at a flower; to chat with an old friend or make a new one;

To pat a stray dog; To watch a spider build a web;

To smile at a child;

Or to read a few lines 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 branches of 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 toward the stars
Of my greater destiny.