In running a sprint, a fast start is ideal … but it’s not always advantageous to get a quick jump out of the starting blocks. 

I followed a hockey game last night where, in the first period, the visiting team got scored on early and often. After the game, the losing team and the media talked about how fast the winning team started.  

It’s so important to get a good start because it can set the tone for the rest of the game. 

We’ve just entered a new year and I feel like, right from the start, I’ve been going at a very fast pace … and I’m not all that excited about it either. 

I’d like to slow it down a little. I think I need a breather. 

The other day I overheard someone saying they were leaving for a vacation in the south and I immediately had a vision of me sitting on a beach, not doing much at all except watching the waves lap up at my feet on shore. 

White sand, blue sky, emerald water …. ahhhhh. There I go with another vision. 

My start to 2020 has kept me from being able to enjoy a day off. I think so far this year I’ve worked every day. 

It all started with Christmas. Maybe because the big day came in the middle of the week, it made it hard to find extra time to relax. The entire holiday season, I could never string together more than one day off in a row. 

Since the new year, I’ve had extra meetings, a couple of extra speaking engagements, and I can’t remember what it’s like to slump on the couch. 

Life is not supposed to be like a sprint, but more like a marathon. 

I’ve seen those marathon runners from Kenya with their long, rhythmic strides, seemingly floating inches above the ground. Their movements look effortless. 

That’s how I imagine a new year should start. 

But my 2020 has so far been more like a 100 metre sprint, where the runners explode out of the starting blocks and run at a frantic pace until they almost collapse at the end of the track.

I remember ten years ago that we started the year with a Caribbean cruise. We flew to Miami on New Year’s Day and were on the ship the next day. Every day we got some rays, exercised a little, ate way too much, and every night watched college football on a gigantic screen.

Now that was a great way to break in the new year! 

I haven’t been able to start a new year that way since. But just thinking about it, with the images of that vacation scrolling across my mind, I get a vision of a completely different pace than what I’m experiencing right now. 

The rock group, Smash Mouth, recorded a song back in 2002 called “Holiday In My Head”. My life might not slow down but maybe I can slow down my mind just a little. 

Here’s the thing: We can physically be moving fast – which will quickly exhaust us – but, while that is happening, we can slow our souls down by spending extended, quality time with God. As our souls slow down, we will be in a better place to deal with the physically taxing pace we might find ourselves in at the start of a new year, or any time.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you slow your soul while your pace is so fast? Leave your comments and questions below.