Going Slow to Go Fast

Image by Oldiefan on Pixabay

There has been a running theme in my last three blog posts that I just noticed and didn’t plan out in advance. As is often the case with my writing and sermons, the person I am most speaking to is myself. It is clear that slowing down is a message I need to hear these days. 

This past week, I noticed how much more time it requires to get everybody in my family out the door, especially now that we’ve transitioned from being a family of 3 to a family of 4. We need much more buffer time on both ends of a scheduled event or trip and to pack a lot more items. 

There are a lot of priceless gems of wisdom I have gathered from congregants over the years and one of those gems that’s been on my mind lately is from a congregant who is now a retired third grade teacher. She once shared with me that in order to be most effective with her students, she has to teach in such a way that is not rushed or expecting students to catch on quickly. Paradoxically, she shared, “teachers must go slow to go fast.” 

I have never forgotten that phrase: we have to go slow to go fast. In this age of instant service from fast food instead of slow cooked meals; emails instead of snail mail; text messages instead of phone calls; and quick diet fixes instead of long-term sustainable lifestyle changes, it is challenging to resist shortcuts and take the slow and steady routes. But those slow and steady routes, as frustrating as they are at first, end up producing more satisfying results in the end. 

There are so many areas of my life where this wisdom applies, not just with getting my family together to go out for an event or trip. My toddler is going through a “no” phase where he resists almost anything that interrupts his playing with his toy cars: getting ready for school, taking a bath, eating a meal, etc. The more I rush him, the more he resists and the longer it takes. When I give him plenty of time though, prepping him mentally and patiently waiting for his brain to accept his next activity, we progress faster than if I had rushed him. 

This book project I’m working on is another area of my life I’m applying this wisdom. It’s going slowly, like frustratingly slow, slower than a snail’s pace or the movement of a sloth. This time last year, I thought my book would be finished by now but I’m still working on the friggin’ proposal!

I remind myself, somebody who likes to move quickly and see results quickly, that this massive project forever linked to my name and reputation deserves a generous heap of time, intention, care, and thoughtfulness. In the same way with my toddler, the faster I try to move on this book project, the more work I may need to put in the future to clean up the gaps I left in trying to move quickly. 

As they say, wine gets better with time. Now, if I can be just as patient with my own life.