This month, at the beginning of the summer, let’s slow down.
As for myself, I have developed through the years a fast-paced ritual to begin the day. I am up and coffeed early in the morning. I pause, on most days, for a quick word of prayer. On many mornings I will read a portion of God’s Word, concisely. And then I breeze through the Daily Times.
I know the road to Jericho
It’s in a part of town
That’s full of factories and filth.
I’ve seen the folks go down,Small folk with roses in their cheeks
And starlight in their eyes;
And seen them fall among the thieves,
And heard their helpless cries.The priests and Levites speeding by
Read of the latest crimes
In headlines spread in black and red
Across the Evening Times.How hard for those in limousines
To heal the heart of man!
It was a slow-paced ass that bore
The Good Samaritan.
I see report of “the latest crimes” against my race. I read with alarm about conflicts, here and there, uncertainties and trouble of every variety. Today I read of a failing democracy in Africa, the threat of civil war in Latin America, rioting in Asia, the latest bloodshed in the Middle East, and an emerging food crisis taking root among the world’s poorest and least prepared populations. And then, of course, I was done with my coffee, into my car, onto the highway, and on my way to work.
This month, let’s slow down.
You see, “the road to Jericho” is not easily seen by snatches. Or better said, the wounded ones – the “small folk” who “fall among thieves” along the road – are not easily seen while breezing by. The wounded ones might not register or appear at all, in fact – except from the back of “a slow-paced ass.”
There are names and faces, you see, behind the stories that appear in the Daily Times. If we slow down just for a moment, we might see them. We might learn to care a little. We might learn to pray. A face or a name might make its way into our hearts. And then we might be kneeling on the road to Jericho ourselves, binding a hurt and sharing good news.
We might be late for work, too, of course. And that is just the trouble. We have learned to prefer the next item on our agenda over the item immediately before us. We have come to prefer where-we-are-going over where-we-are. Slowing down makes us uneasy. We are on the road to Jericho, after all; the road to Jericho is simply for passing by.
This month, let me encourage you to read through the newsletter slowly. Take some time for it. Don’t hurry through. And if you can’t complete these pages in one sitting – well, don’t worry. Just stop for a moment and look around. Pray for the names and the faces that surround you on the road, just now. Maybe you will find a hurt to bind. Maybe you will find a wounded one ready to hear Good News.