Our culture tells us the faster the better, and if fast is really better, then faster is even better. Well, unless you are a race car driver or a sprinter, fast is not always best. We all seem to sprint through life from one thing to another, oftentimes those things are good and noble, but in the midst of breakneck speed what we miss is the beauty of life. Faster and faster. Round and round we go. Dizzying. Exhausting. Impossible to sustain.

This quote by Eddie Cantor sums up what I am trying to say – Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

Who is Eddie Cantor you might ask? He was a singer, comedian, vaudeville star, actor, and radio and television personality. Eddie got his start in show biz with the Ziegfeld Follies in New York City in 1917. Maybe as important, if not more important, Eddie was involved with The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, founded in 1938 by President Franklin Roosevelt, and that foundation’s main fundraising event was setting up booths at Christmas asking people to donate a dime to fight polio and other birth defects. From that, Eddie coined the term, The March of Dimes, and in 1976 the organization adopted March of Dimes as its name.

If you are like most people, you try to juggle many balls at once, run from one thing to another, collapse into bed at night, only to get up tomorrow and start all over.

I am not saying all of life is intended to be spent sitting in a rocking chair on the porch or a beach chair at the ocean. What I am saying is look over all the things you do and ask yourself; “what things are most important things to me, and what stuff can I dump over the side of the boat.” Yes, there are times in your life when the pace is fast and you do fly around at high speed, often while juggling many balls, but even then, take time to enjoy the scenery as it whizzes by.

Since my stroke in 2021, due to some neurological deficits, I have been forced to both slow down and as much as possible, avoid situations that create chaos in my brain. One of the things I have fallen in love with is JOMO – the joy of missing out, disconnecting as a form of self-care.

In addition to slowing down, to find real meaning and purpose in life, we really need to look no further than to God. We read this in Ecclesiastes 2:24 – “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God.”

Ecclesiastes is sometimes hard to understand, and if taken out of context, this passage seems to be advocating a life of mere pleasure seeking. But it is not saying that at all. What it tells us is that only in God does life have real meaning and purpose, which offers true pleasure. Without Him nothing satisfies, but with him, we find satisfaction and enjoyment. Our God is a generous God, and we can enjoy His good provisions.    

So, today, look to God for meaning and purpose, and don’t buy into the world’s roadmap of “faster and faster.” That roadmap is nothing more than a hamster wheel that just goes “round and round.”

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I live in Pennsylvania, in what is commonly called Amish Country. While there is much to love about this part of the country, I am not a big fan of cold winters. And snow, maybe on Christmas Eve and an occasional weekend (when I do not need to drive in it), but other than that, stay away.

Instead, I prefer the mild winters of eastern North Carolina, allowing for barefoot walks on deserted beaches, the sand between my toes.

I did just get some hopeful news regarding the remainder of this winter season. A few days ago, our local university’s weather center predicted a record-setting lack of snow.

And even though I prefer sandy beaches over cold and snow, I must admit that there is tremendous beauty in a snowfall. The untouched snow on tree branches. The untrodden snow-covered ground. Both are serene and pristine, offering a sense of calm and peacefulness. But it doesn’t take too long for that beautiful white snow to turn dirty and ugly.

You have likely heard the phrase “white as snow.” This conjures up an image of pure white. What better describes whiteness than snow? Not only the intensity of the snow’s color on a winter’s day, but also the purity of untrodden snow.  In Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” Autolycus sings “lawn as white as driven snow.”

Scripture tells us that every man, woman, and child is a sinner, falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We also know from Scripture that it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from our sin (1 John 1:7). In the Old Testament blood symbolizes the atonement of sin, the sacrificial cleansing that comes from the shedding of blood. And it is the blood of Jesus on the cross that cleanses us when we repent and turn from our sin.

Our lives are like that pure white snow; when we sin, that pure white turns dirty and ugly. However, because of God’s great love and mercy, by sacrificing His son Jesus Christ on the Cross to bear the penalty of our sins, when we turn from those sins (repent) we are made white as snow. Here is what we read in Isaiah 1:8 – “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

King David spied on Bathsheba, the wife of one of his senior advisors, as she bathed on her rooftop. He had an adulteress affair with her, got her pregnant, and then had her husband Uriah killed as part of the cover up plot. The prophet Nathan confronted David about this series of sins. Psalm 51 is a beautiful psalm written by David after that confrontation. I encourage you to read this psalm in its entirety. It begins with these words – “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” In v.7 we read, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

And in v.10 we find a plea that I include as part of my morning prayer – “Create in me a clean heart (a pure heart), O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” David goes on to ask that he not be cast out of God’s presence (v.11), that he be restored (v.12), and to be delivered from his guilt (v.14).

So today, will you humble yourself and ask God to forgive you of your sins? When you do, you become in His eyes whiter than snow; like pure white untrodden snow, beautiful beyond all

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When we lived in eastern North Carolina we experienced numerous storms that caused flooding. The city we lived in was at ten feet of elevation, and on the confluence of two rivers, so the area was very susceptible to flooding from any sort of rain event. In preparation for those potential high rain event, particularly hurricanes, one of the important steps needed was to put anything in low lying places up on higher ground. Lawn furniture was either brought inside or put on raised decks. Due to the low elevation, homes do not have basements.

Therefore, to avoid water damage in first (ground) floor living areas, furniture was put up on blocks and items sitting on the floor put on countertops or shelves. You could say that anything in a low place was lifted up to some place higher. Things were safer and more secure in those higher places.

From time to time, in life, we find ourselves in low places, in a valley. All we see are the mountains all around us or the once lush riverbed that has all but dried up. In those low places we are more susceptible to being swept away by flood waters. If we are not swept away, we find ourselves standing in mud and muck. And mud, it is slippery and it is sticky. If we fall into a pit where the walls and bottom are mud, it is difficult to climb out. You ever been there? I have.  

Let’s look at these words of King David, found in Psalm 40 – “I waited patiently for the LORD he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (vv.1-2).

I so often write about waiting on God. Waiting on Him is not a passive ho-hum kind of waiting. Instead, it is intently waiting, attuning your heart to Him. It is waiting expectantly.

Turned to me seems to imply that God purposefully bent down toward David, not just to listen but also to reach out His hand to lift David up out of his current low place (slimy pit, mud, mire) with the purpose of securing David’s footing (rock, firm place).     

Waiting on God is also trusting in Him completely – “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him. Blessed is the one who

trusts in the LORD, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods [run after lies]” (vv.3-4).

Notice that sandwiched in the middle of those verses, we are told that David’s faith and patient waiting, along with God’s deliverance, is an effective testimony, inspiring others to see (perceive), fear (reverence) and trust (assurance) in the Lord.

If you are like me, when I find myself in the uncomfortable low places, in the pit, standing in the mud, you want out hurriedly. I am not a patient person. I want to quickly climb out, shower off, and run to the lush green pastures. (God leads us there as well; Psalm 23). But I’ve found when I cry out to God and wait upon Him, in my moments of deep distress, that He has lifted me up, time and time again. He will do the same for you!  

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Life in this country looked quite different back at the time of my birth (1958) and my early childhood than it does today. Cultural and societal norms have changed.

I did not come home from the hospital in a car safety seat. Instead, I likely came home in my mother’s lap, as she smoked a cigarette. Child safety seats became available in the 1960s, but few parents used them, and it wasn’t until 1985 that federal child passenger safety laws were enacted, requiring children to be restrained in a safety seat. The safety seat we brought our oldest daughter home in back in 1987 looked and operated very differently than the child restraint systems in place today, ones you need an advanced engineering degree just to install in your car.

Seatbelts did not become required in all designated seating areas of vehicles until 1968. In was commonplace to have passengers sit unrestrained anywhere in the vehicle. In fact, on long trips, my brothers and I used to alternate laying on the floor of our car’s back seat, using the middle hump as a pillow. This floor space also helped us avoid much of the smoke cloud that filled our car, as our parents puffed away. Today, New Hampshire is the only state without seat belt laws for drivers and passengers over 18 years old.

As a youngster, I remember my father and other neighborhood men taking their wives to the Playboy Club, because it had the “best steak in town.” And I suppose he subscribed to Hugh Hefner’s magazine simply for its literary excellence. I cannot imagine getting all dressed up and taking my wife to an establishment where the hostess and servers all wear skimpy outfits or white bunny tails.

In the sexually charged 60s, if a woman decided to go braless, she was likely making a political and cultural statement, and was considered “liberated.” Today, going braless is often more for health or personal reasons than the freedom from patriarchal norms imposed upon women throughout history.

Clothing styles and trends come and go. Some thankfully so. Men, any of you still have a leisure suit and matching silk shirt in your closet? Not that long ago, men wore suits and ties, and women wore dresses and pearls, when going out of the house or being seen in public. For those of you old enough to remember the television show Leave It to Beaver, June Cleaver wore pearls to cook and clean the house. 

Cultural and societal norms change all the time – century to century, generation to generation, decade to decade, year to year, sometimes even week by week. What was viewed as acceptable yesterday might no longer be acceptable today. As the world around us constantly changes, we have a good, good God who never changes. James 1:17 tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from our Father of lights, with whom there is no variation of shadow due to change.” The writer of Hebrews says this, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8). God makes this promise in the opening words of Malachi 3:6, “For I the LORD do not change.”

Not only does God never change, but what He expects of those who call themselves Jesus-followers never changes either. Here is what we find in Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

So, in a world of never-ending and constant cultural and societal change, imagine the impact we could and would have if we simply remained unchanged in our desire to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our good, good Father. Now that is something never to go out of style.

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Right now, as you read this post, there is one thing you are doing that you probably just take for granted. Assuming you have no medical condition that limits this necessary function, it just happens, without you even thinking about it.

You guessed it, breathing.

Technically speaking, breathing is called is external respiration, or in other words, the exchange of gases. In simple terms, respiration occurs by breathing. We inhale to deliver oxygen to our lungs, and we exhale to send carbon dioxide out of our bodies. The respiration rate for an average adult at rest is 12 to 20 breaths per minute. When the circulatory system transports these gases to and from our cells, cellular respiration occurs. Over-breathing is called hyperventilation and under-breathing, hypoventilation, both of which cause distress to our body.    

Other than sustaining life, breathing has other important functions as well. For example, speech and speaking are directly related to breathing. A normal speech pattern is first inhalation to fill your lungs with air then speak during exhalation. If you know me then you know I have a speech impediment. Unlike many speech impediments, mine is not a mechanical defect. Instead, somewhere during my developmental stage I began trying to speak while inhaling. Go ahead, try it, how does that work for you? And to compensate, throughout the years, I formed improper habits, none of which make for “normal” or easy-flowing speech.

The most common reference to “God’s Spirit” and “Holy Spirit” in Scripture comes from the Hebrew word “ruach” and the Greek word “pneuma.” The biblical language uses these words in three ways: spirit, wind, breath. The Old Testament uses “ruach” as a name of God, for example Ruach Elohim as the Spirit of God, Ruach Adonia as Spirit of the Lord. Job 33:4 says this: The Spirit of God (Ruach-El) has made me, the breath of the Almighty gives me life. The New Testament uses “pneuma” close to 380 times when referring to the Holy Spirit. And today we have words like pneumonia (infection in the lung’s air sacs) or pneumatic air cylinder (operated by air/gas under pressure). In theology, pneumatology is the study of the Holy Spirit. 

The breath in a person is the most obvious sign they are alive. Without the air we breathe, we are dead.

So, I ask – Are you spiritually alive, breathing in the presence of God, filling your lungs with His Spirit? Why not ask the Spirit of God to give you life today, then ask again tomorrow, the next day, and every day after that. Let me end with these lyrics from the song “Breathe,” written by Marie Barnett – “This is the air I breathe, this is the air I breathe, your holy presence, living in me.”

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Do you lay in bed at night, unable to fall asleep, kept awake over what has already happened? Do you spend time and energy wishing yesterday had been different? You’ve heard the saying, “that’s water over the dam,” right? Think about it, as water flows over a dam, through its spillways, it is forever gone, never to return. What you did, or was done to you, yesterday or even ten years ago, is like water over the dam – can’t be changed.

Every one of us has a past. That past is filled with successes and failures, both big and small. That past is filled with smiles and also with tears. It is filled with things we are glad to share with others, and it is filled with things we keep hidden from others, or at least “hidden” until the it shows up on social media.

In part, your past makes you who you are today. While we are all influenced by our past, we do not have to let our past dictate the present or the future. This does not mean forget your past, instead, it means a conscious refusal to let it absorb all your attention and impede your progress. It means letting the water that has gone over the dam to be just that, gone forever.

You might right now be thinking, “Oh you don’t know my past. The pain is too great, or the hole is just too deep to climb out of.” You are correct, I do not know your past, but what I do know is that Jesus came into this world to bring you a future, a glorious future grounded in hope (Titus 2:13). He loves you and is interested in redeeming and restoring you, no matter how broken you feel, how ugly your past was.

We find that God-initiated restoration put this way in Joel 2:24-26 – “The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine and olive oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust ate, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust – My great army that I sent against you. You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied. You will praise the name of Yahweh your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. My people will never again be put to shame.”

The immediate meaning of those verses is that for years Israel had seen their crops eaten by swarms of locusts, complete destruction of their harvest year after year. I am sure all they could see was more of the same in their future; they likely could not stop seeing the water that had gone over the dam. But here we see God is promising that their future will be filled with hope, abundant harvests, plenty to eat and drink, and a future in which the people will have reason to praise and worship their God.

Just a few verses earlier, we read – “Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people … Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied” (vv.17-18a).

(Jealous in this context means “to be zealous for or concerned for.”

You do indeed have a past, but because of Jesus, despite what that past looks like, even as messy as today might be, you also have a future, a glorious future.

So, regardless of what is in your past, allow the water that has flowed over the dam, through the spillways, to be gone forever, and look to Jesus help you have a better tomorrow.   

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