You know you are growing old when the cartoons you grew up
watching are on Boomerang, the hit movies now air on K.T.N,... even worse on T.C.M
(I don’t even know how The Matrix ended up in there!) and the music you grew up
to is now referred to as old school. I felt outdated the other day when I told
some kids I was trying to bond with, that I looove The Power Puff girls and
they go like ‘thats old’, apparently Phineas and Ferb is the in cartoon now, my
bad... Conversations with friends are slowly converting to...I’ve applied for a
job here and there, my baby has....work is...
Wait a minute,..I’m still in denial here but Gosh! When did
I grow up!
The funny thing about life is that we are always in such a
hurry to get a step ahead. When in Primary, we couldn’t wait to get to High
school, when in High School, we could wait to get to campus, in campus we
couldn’t wait to start working. That goes with our personal life as well,
singles can’t wait to start dating, those dating can’t wait to get married,
when married they can’t wait to get kids and before you know it, they begin longing
for those kids to move out and get heir own kids.
Someone needs to manufacture that chill pill for real now because
sadly, in this rush, we often forget to enjoy the phase we are in and only
realize it after you have missed it.
As I sit back and reminisce, I must say that I have learnt
a lot! But one of the greatest lessons that I continue to learn is to trust God
with my life in totality and to enjoy life. I have come to realize that in Him,
everything happens at its own beautiful time. Looking back, I have noticed that
the things that I have stressed out about in the past never come to pass or
always get sorted out. Worrying is such a waste of precious time! He is AMAZING
and if He knows the number of hairs on your head, surely, He cares about your
every need or whim. Relax, slow down, trust Him and enjoy every phase of your
life ...after all, You only live once! This poem by Wilfred Peterson sums it all:
"Slow me down, Lord!
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind.
Steady my harried pace
With a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me,
Amidst the confusions of my day,
The calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves
With the soothing music
Of the singing streams
That live in my memory.
Help me to know
The magical power of sleep,
Teach me the art
Of taking minute vacations
Of slowing down
To look at a flower;
To chat with an old friend
Or make a new one;
To pat a stray dog;
To watch a spider build a web;
To smile at a child;
Or to read a few lines from a good book.
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
Into the branches of the towering oak
And know that it grew great and strong
Because it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord,
And inspire me to send my roots deep
Into the soil of life's enduring values
That I may grow toward the stars
Of my greater destiny."
- Wilfred A. Peterson
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind.
Steady my harried pace
With a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me,
Amidst the confusions of my day,
The calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves
With the soothing music
Of the singing streams
That live in my memory.
Help me to know
The magical power of sleep,
Teach me the art
Of taking minute vacations
Of slowing down
To look at a flower;
To chat with an old friend
Or make a new one;
To pat a stray dog;
To watch a spider build a web;
To smile at a child;
Or to read a few lines from a good book.
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
Into the branches of the towering oak
And know that it grew great and strong
Because it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord,
And inspire me to send my roots deep
Into the soil of life's enduring values
That I may grow toward the stars
Of my greater destiny."
- Wilfred A. Peterson
