+DEV+ Slowing Down

Date: May 1, 2011 6:37 PM
Topic: +DEV+ Slowing Down

Slowing Down

"Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love"
(Psalm 48:9).
Scripture Focus: Psalm 48

Imagine vine-ripened summer tomatoes simmering in a pot with fresh herbs and garlic and sausage from the corner butcher. That's slow food. In 1989, the International Movement for the Defense of the Right to Pleasure was formed because "we have been enslaved by speed which disrupts our habits and forces us to eat fast food." Their remedy was a return to the leisurely pleasure of slowly prepared foods, cooked with fresh ingredients, savored over conversation with friends and family.

In this fast-paced world, we need "slow food" and we need to read the Bible like we're eating slow food. It restores our soul when we take time to meditate on God's Word. Meditation means savoring His words, pausing to consider them and to take them in. We don't meditate in isolation; we do it in conversation with Jesus, asking Him to teach us, to turn Scripture into nourishment for our faith, and to integrate it into our hearts. Meditation means slowing down and saying to Jesus, "Speak Lord, for you servant listens."

Insight: "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth" (Psalm 119:103).