During mass this evening our priest shared this poem during his homily.This spoke to my
heart and what I needed to hear during this week. Amidst our lives, which encompass so much “doing,” sometimes we forget that “there is more to life than measuring its speed.” We must slow down to listen, we must slow our minds to receive guidance, we must slow down to make space in our lives for more important things, we must slow down in order to be able to check our direction in life and to be sure we “grow toward the stars of my (our) greater destiny.”
“Slow Me Down, Lord” by Wilfred Arlan Peterson
Slow me down, Lord.
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace.
Give me, amidst the day’s confusion
the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves and muscles
with the soothing music of singing streams
that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art
of taking minute vacations….
slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend,
to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me
of the fable of the hare and the tortoise;
that the race is not always to the swift;
that there is more to life than measuring its speed.
Let me look up at the branches of the towering oak
and know that … it grew slowly … and well.
Inspire me
to send my own roots down deep…
into the soil of life’s endearing values…
That I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.
Slow me down, Lord.
Dr. Gloria Petruzzelli 
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