
                        = Slow Me Down, Lord =

Slow me down, Lord!  Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of
my mind. Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.

  Give me, amidst the confusion of my day, the calmness of the everlasting
  hills. Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the music of the
  singing streams that live in my memory.

Help me to know the magic restoring power of sleep.

  Teach me the art of taking minute vacations ... of slowing down to
  look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few
  lines from a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable of the Hare and the Tortoise that I may
know that the race is not always to the swift; that there is more to life
than increasing speed.

  Let me look forward into the branches of the towering oak and know
  that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well. Slow
  me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of
  life's enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater
  destiny.  Amen. 

                                            ... Wilfred A. Peterson
                    
                            ------------------


