The Art of Slowing Down

I am learning a lot of things about life and myself here in Philly. One of the big things is to slow down and enjoy the little moments in life. This is a lot harder than it sounds. The Morton’s are some of the busiest people that I know, yet they have this way of not letting time rule their lives. For instance, after finishing a meal we will sit and talk about whatever is going on during the day, our thoughts on different subjects, etc. In my head I want to get up, do the dishes, and keep my day moving.

The same thing happens when we visit people, like Miss Betty Lou-Who. If it were me running the schedule I would slot a certain amount of time to visit Miss Betty and then move on with my day. However, when we go to visit Miss Betty, there is no time limit. If we get there and she needs to go to the pharmacy, we will take her. The visit could be 30 minutes, or it could be an 8 hour shoe shopping trip. It all depends on what the needs are.

I find this type of mentality fascinating, and maddening at the same time. I am the type of person that thrives on schedules. I try to fit the most amounts of things that I can into the smallest amount of time possible. I think through doing this I have missed a valuable point that the Morton’s have learned. When we visit Miss Betty without a time limit on our stay, we are truly being open to ministering to her. When we sit after a meal and talk for 20 minutes about various topics, we are learning to enjoy each other’s company and not rushing through the opportunity.

The crazy thing about it all is that the dishes still get done. We still pack more into a day then I would have ever thought possible without a strict schedule, and along the way we have an opportunity to truly enjoy each moment instead of trying to rush and cram a few extra things into our day. I call it the Art of Slowing Down. The Morton’s seemed to have mastered it, I am slowly learning to let go of time constraints and the frustration of not having a tight schedule.