Slow Me Down, Lord

Slow me down, Lord.

Ease the pounding of my heat by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tension of my nerve and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.

Teach me the art of taking minute vacation --- of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to smile at a child, to read a few lines from a good book.

Slow me down, Lord, to inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values, that I may grow toward my greater destiny.

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 to the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.

Orin Crain

~ The garden plates were yard sale finds.  They are numbered and are a part of the "Gardens of Beauty Collection".  I only have two in the set, representing gardens in America and England.  They remind me of spring and that it won't be long until my own flower garden starts to grow again.  They represent 'hope' in a tangible way. ~