“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”
Psalm 37:3-7
While I was out on a run this week, I looked up to see this twenty miles per hour sign posted in front of the pink and blue sky. A sky colored by the setting sun, yet painted by the Artist of the canvas of this world. I stood in silence as I observed the view above, hearing nothing but the song of worship that was playing through my headphones.
The next day at work, I shared this short and seemingly meaningless story (especially without the photo) at the bedside of a patient.
Why?
Because of the words that immediately entered into my mind as I came to a brief halt in my run that night.
“SLOW DOWN.”
We so often live this life at an already fast pace, but it seems as though the more things that we add into our weekly routines, the more quickly one day hops to the next. Church on Sunday hops to meetings on Monday. The dentist appointment on Tuesday jumps to piano lessons on Wednesday. Dinner plans on Thursday hop to football under the lights on Friday. Scrimmages on Saturday flip to church again on Sunday.
Before we know it, we are spinning around the carousel week after week, without a single thought to get off…until the ride comes to a stop.
Though the words of “slow down” were greatly applicable to me personally in that moment, I knew that it was a message that would greatly resonate with many of the patients throughout our wards as well, and agreeably so. Honestly, it is the patients who have fed into the fruitfulness of these words in the days to follow for me, and I hope for you as well.
Time after time after time, I have heard a patient say, “I need to slow down.”
Here they are, laying in a hospital bed and surrounded by strangers. Here they are with nearly their only options for distraction being their phone or conversation with those strangers. Here they are, away from their job, apart from their family, and unavailable to their hobbies. Here they are, with excess time to be still and think. Here they are, realizing their need to simply slow down.
As each conversation has carried on, the patients have said things like, “I am going to retire”, “I am going to switch careers”, “I am going to be a better husband, dad, or brother”, “I am going to start doing the things that I enjoy”, “I am going to spend more time with my grandkids,” or “I can’t wait to sit on the swing on my front porch, surrounded by the flowers that remind me of my mother,” who had just passed.
Nobody wants to be in a hospital bed. Believe me, we never receive patients who have volunteered to leave behind their routine, their families, and their lives to lay in a bed and be alone with their thoughts as they are met with the unknowns of life. But, the word of God says that He works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His will (Romans 8:28), so in that, we can trust that good things will even come from a hospital bed. Never have I rested more assured of this than I do today.
There is a lot of hurt, heartache, and mourning that has been linked to COVID-19 in some way or another, but just as good can and will come through a hospital bed, God will use this disease for the good of those who love Him as well, and truly, I can see one way in which He is already at work.
COVID has broken the routine; it has stopped the carousel. The one that was used to going around and around, without a second thought, has now been forced to get off the ride and look up. We have all been faced with the need to re-evaluate our priorities and to re-dedicate our time accordingly.
The patients that we are seeing have been completely thrown off the ride. It wasn’t a gradual transition, as many have faced according to different restrictions and guidelines, though they may have experienced that too, but they have been completely uprooted from their routine and were brought to a place of physical stillness.
In the midst of that stillness, many have shifted their perspective. Many have begun to recognize that they were on a carousel that never stopped spinning and even more so, that the ride has parted far from the desires of their heart.
Are you and I really so different? It seems as though the more we add to our plate, the more quickly each week spins by, and the less of who we are each created to be is exposed to the world. We stay on the ride, becoming more invested in the comfort of remaining in our seat than in assuring that the seat is the perfect fit for us.
My hope is that it won’t take being thrown off of the ride for you to take a step back and assess your seat.
Are you working a career that you enjoy?
Are the things of your routine, things that bring you joy?
Are you experiencing a peace that surpasses understanding, even in the chaos?
Are the desires of your heart being fulfilled?
Is where you are where the Lord would have you to be today?
Recognize where you are. Evaluate your heart. Don’t be afraid to get off of the carousel, and to fasten your seatbelt in a cart set upon a one-way track. Trust that the Lord will lead you where you need to go; the place in which He has equipped and prepared you for. Trust that He will fulfill the desires of your heart as your pursue Him.
Take some time to slow down and look up today.
