Unhurried
Recently, I received a message from a few of our returned missionaries – thank you everyone!
It was an invitation to watch a BYU Devotional by Shayla Bott.
The core message of her talk was “𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠”.
It reminded me of an experience with Monic, whilst we were in Copenhagen at a Mission Leaders Seminar in October 2021.
During the seminar there was a moment in which the Area President – Massimo De Feo – felt to play a video of Sissel singing “Slow Down” with The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square during the 2019 Pioneer Day concert.
There came into the room, the sweetest, most beautiful spirit that not only filled the entire room, but it also penetrated deeply into all of our hearts.
It changed me.
It changed our hearts.
And it changed our mission.
From that moment forward, we regularly shared that video and message to “slow down” with all of our missionaries in order for each of us to better understand the invitation to “Be still and know that I am God” – Psalms 46:10.
We shared it at every opportunity we could.
It became my personal mantra.
Accents
…Lots of missionaries tried extremely hard to copy my Scottish accent and repeat “slow down” and, truth be told, some of those attempts were quite something!
I always appreciated them, not because they got it right… but because they felt it.
There was something kind, almost sacred, in their willingness to try and it wasn’t really about the accent.
It was about the invitation.
An invitation to pause, to breathe, to notice, to feel and to listen a little more carefully to the Spirit, to others, and perhaps even to ourselves.
I know the more present we are in the now, the more joy we can tap into.
Listening to the BYU Devotional this week has been transformative.
I purchased a book by John Mark Comer “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” and have enjoyed my studies this week – more than ever.
My invitation – listen to the devotional, maybe even buy the book.
For me, it’s been about creating just enough space for heaven to get a word in.
In a world that so often rushes, pushes, and hurries… the Lord simply invites us to “Be still.”
What might the Lord be waiting to say to you… if you slowed down just a little?
