"Take Your Time" - by Heidi McLaughlin

I am fixated on the British Open Golf Tournament taking place in Scotland at the Royal Troon Championship course.  It’s the 3rday of the tournament and Phil Mickelson, my favourite player, is in the lead. I focus on his drives, short pitches, brilliant putts and the interaction between him and his caddy. “Jim Bones” Mackay has been Phil’s caddy since 1992 and they have established a trusting relationship.  

This part fascinates me.  On every tee box both Phil and “Jim Bones” go through the routine of Phil’s next shot. They establish wind velocity, precise yardage, angles and hazards. Conversation takes place back and forth; they pick the right club, Phil steps up to the tee and then I hear Jim Bones' last words, “Take your time.”  With that simple, yet powerful send off for success, it feels like everyone can breathe again.

We need to hear “take your time” more often. We live in perilous times where we take pride in how much we can pack into one day.  Taking our sweet time about anything is simply not an option. It might even be considered laziness.

Little children teach us to savour the moments. They love to take their time playing with Lego, sitting and listening to stories. We are the ones who teach them to hurry. I can still hear myself, “Get your coat on we’re running late.” “ Quit fooling around, you need to eat your lunch so we can get out of here.” I wonder if subconsciously we learned that it’s bad or wasteful to take our time.

Our relentless pursuits to find fulfillment and success cause us to become weary, overwhelmed and sometimes cynical. I don’t think we were designed to hurry our way through life. Jesus modeled simplicity. “Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-29 MSG)

I confess I am also a card-carrying member of the rat race of blogging, tweeting, posting articles, Facebook memes, Instagram, Pinterest and on and on. But with all that we've invested in becoming writers and speakers I would like to suggest that we pause and “take the time” to learn from Jesus and enjoy our journey. We are to throw off all those things that are “ill fitting” and focus on the things that will bring us joy on our pathway to success. So I have to ask myself, “What do I need to take the time to throw off so that I can live freely and lightly?”

Not many of us have a “Jim Bones” to help us become successful and remind us to “take your time.”  But we have Jesus who says we are to watch and learn from Him how to live freely and lightly.  Jesus never hurried. He took time to interact with people and model The Father’s love. He focused on His purpose. He changed the world. What can you and I learn from Jesus that will help us to stop hurrying,  “take the time” and enjoy our privileged season as writers and speakers?

Heidi McLaughlin lives in the beautiful vineyards of the Okanagan Valley in Kelowna, British Columbia. She is married to Pastor Jack and they have a wonderful, eclectic blended family of 5 children and 9 grandchildren. When Heidi is not working, she loves to curl up with a great book, or golf and laugh with her husband and special friends. You can reach her at: www.heartconnection.ca

Heidi's latest book RESTLESS FOR MORE: Fulfillment in Unexpected Places was released July 14th, 2016 and can be purchased on her website or amazon.com

Colourful Time – Lawrence

Once more, the colourful time of year arrives. The trees and hedgerows are blazing with reds and oranges, yellows and golds. We are in awe of nature and sing our praises to the Creator. It is a time of glory and we marvel, as we always do at this time of year, at the magnificence of creation.

However, as thinking human beings, the edge is taken off this season of fall because, in the back of our minds, we know that this astounding beauty is the precursor of winter. We marvel at the beauty of fall while being unable to enjoy it fully, knowing that it heralds trees’ bare limbs, long cold nights, and the short, harsh days of winter’s onset.

We are not fully able to enjoy this amazing autumn season because it is taken up with anxiety and dread of the coming winter—a winter season extended by our fear of unknown and untold possibilities. Unlike our pets who take every moment as it comes, we look ahead into the time of what is not yet and imagine the winter horrors that await us.

This takes a lot of energy away from our delight in the present moment; we spend time worrying about the future thus causing ourselves anxiety long before the actual happening, only to find when the time arrives, the imagined event is often not as bad as we anticipated.

It is good to be prepared for the storms of winter—the hydro outages, accidents and black-outs—but the point of being prepared, I think, is to take away worry because we have done all we can to ready ourselves for any emergency.

So, let us do all that needs to be done to ready ourselves for the unpredictable winter, then put aside worrying and fretting about what might happen and enjoy this present and stunning fall moments.

These moments God has given us and they will not return again, except in photographs, memories and the written word, and in our praise and thanks to the Creator for this wonderful world where we live.

www.judithlawrence.ca
http://welshcakesshortstories.blogspot.com