It feels like a month of motion on this blog. First, we said so long to sidetracked. Then we realized our dreams may come with drama, but we must have determination. Last week, I asked, “Is momentum on your side?

But this week we’re looking at the significance of slow and steady. It’s the pace required to establish a habit. It’s the commitment towards building momentum.

Here’s what I mean.

The race between the tortoise and the hare is a well-known tale. The speedy rabbit almost won until he took a prideful pause. Then the steadily moving turtle strolled across the finish line and declared victory.

I have the hare’s mindset but I need tortoise tendencies.

Being energetic is a part of who I am.  Productivity with a purpose is what I aim for. But a pace that creates anxiety is a pace I try to avoid.

Yet, the pace of life comes with the need to make adjustments. Inflexibility can lead to endless frustration, unless I learn to adapt by God’s grace.

“Discovering God’s Rhythm for Our Destiny” was the theme for my church’s women’s retreat last fall.  Dr. Alicia Britt Chole was our speaker.

As she spoke, she mentioned her newest book, The Sacred Slow, A Holy Departure from Fast Faith. The title resonated with me.

God’s deep work in my heart usually takes place gradually; but I must submit continually.

Before leaving the retreat, I decided to do the study. It includes a Life Scroll, enabling the reader to see their life “in layers.”  It’s divided into what Chole describes as “fifty-two experiences in unhurried honesty with God.”

And from my experience, so far, it delivers.

I’m taking the entire year to read the book by completing one experience a week. It can be done in a shorter period of time. However, I don’t want to rush through the places where God wants to reach my heart.

Now I sit in a wonderful paradox of sensing what I believe is His plan:

I’m reading The Sacred Slow.

My word for the year is momentum.

My scriptural focus is Hebrews 12:1 and 2 NLT:  “…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”

Between the book title, my “one word” and my verse for the year, my course is set.  I pray my heart remains open.

I’m encouraged by the well-known tale. The rabbit was equipped to run the race and finish well. But the turtle was convinced persevering in small steps would get him to his destination.

It will get us to ours too.

Whatever goal we have in mind, a sprint may be satisfying but slow and steady is also significant. It is the unrushed, sometimes unwanted, approach to completing what’s unfinished. But it may also be God’s approach to healing where we’re undone.

“Ours is a hurried age, in which speed is deified and waiting is demonized. Ours is a cluttered age, in which noise is the norm and images constantly clamor for our attention. And in our hurried, cluttered age, faster has become synonymous with better, and experience has become a substitute for intimacy.”  – Alicia Britt Chole, The Sacred Slow, A Holy Departure from Fast Faith