Being full. Going slow.
How to enjoy a full season of life while maintaining your sanity.
The answer lies in our speed. The result lies in our gratitude.
I poked my head into the world of Instagram on Friday after a few weeks off to write a thought-out post that left my teeth clinched as this perfectionist producer deleted and edited a few times before I hit share.
My hand is raised to being full and going slow. For me, I’ve so enjoyed time off of social media that I flinched as I tried to return. It’s a wonderful space filled with stories and lessons, but I have a hard time going slow here. Maybe you can teach me to slow scroll! 😉 Like so many of you, our lives are very full. 3 May graduations, senior baseball season, leading in our church, growing in local friendships, time with our 4 teens…to name a few… that I’m not looking for speed. I’m finding meaning in the neighborhood and cherishing in-person moments. Maybe this is a result of living in a city who sheltered in place for the longest and people are slowly emerging and I want to be here for them or maybe it’s Shauna Niequist’s present over perfect and me not constructing a perfect post, but rather conversing in our pjs over coffee.
I’ll delight to literally meet up with you if San Francisco is home or have you over to my neighborhood on the blog this Sunday if you want to know more about being full and going slow.
You can invite yourself by clicking on shaunapilgreen.com or use the link in profile.
If you’re going fast, you could not have even gotten to this sentence. If you are here, you’re kind. For the fast and the slow, the full and the empty, I pray blessings and the peace of Jesus over your day and family.
❤️
Shauna
Maybe I’m the only one and your rolling your eyes or taking pity on me. I’m over here doing the same to myself!
What is it about our busy lives?
What is it about how fast we can go?
Laughter is welcomed here, either with us or for us! Because you’ve been here or are here now.
I’m so busy that when I get a minute to sit down, I feel guilty and start to look for something to do!
I have to calendar the smallest tasks like thawing the ground beef not because I’ve got other finer tasks to deal with. I just have a bazillion small tasks.
If it’s not enough that I can set out all four kid’s passports for their appointments, I must also put a post it note on the door not to forget them.
I got the trash to the road on Wednesday night and thought I was on top of things. I learned from a kind family member it was only Tuesday. I shifted my mindset and mentally applauded me for being ahead, not insane.
Maybe I’m not the person you want to be learning from in this season! Maybe you feel like you’re in good company.
“Busy and fast at their core are selfish. Full and slow are rooted in selflessness.”
How to be full.
Avoid busy as best you can. It’s not always the case, but if you can not do something or put something down to reserve some brain cells for a latter day, I call you wise. Note: we’re likely to put the wrong things down and I caution you here. If I looked down at my buffet plate and after a few bites, realized I’ve got to make a hard decision here…I can’t eat all of this. One of those eyes bigger than my stomach moments again. I choose what’s best over what’s good. We might make different decisions here. I’m gonna always choose the bread over the broccoli and the starch over the steak.
I love being full after a good meal. Full is a wonderfully satisfying feeling. We’ve chosen a big family. God saw fit for them to all be within 4 years of one another! We’ve chosen to give our days to the people of San Francisco in our healthy years and state of mind. This has caused us to put up boundaries for our good and the good of those we love. Boundaries can make life feel full especially if the square footage is tight. Full is to be enjoyed. Busy is to be reckoned with.
How to go slow.
I chuckle because we all go different speeds and What one person may describe as fast, to another would seem turtle slow. My thoughts have died a slow death in the comparison to what my husband Ben can accomplish in a day and what I can accomplish in a day. Let us outdo one another in our love not in our accomplishments. That was a note to self. Let us not celebrate sloth, but let us celebrate intentionality. Holding the hand of an aging parent or holding the bottle for a newborn can be life’s greatest accomplishments. Walking alongside with your fearful friend or taking it upon yourself to daily check-in with your friend battling depression is slow, meaningful work.
We post busy and get likes. We post our fast accomplishments and check in for comments. It’s the full and slow that cannot be contained in a post, nor would we want it to be. Those moments are reserved for the ones in the room with you.
Be patient in this one life we’ve been given, my friend. It’s far too precious to achieve busy and I’m learning that when I am in a rush I miss the very thing and the very people Jesus has put before me to enrich my life and enhance theirs. Today I choose to give thanks to God for the full season I am in, because this gratitude, I’m convinced, will fill my empty moments in the years when I can’t feast at the buffet but need it fed to me.
But until then, let’s raise our hands to being full and going slow.