Slow me Down Lord!

Slow me down, Lord!                                                      
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind.
Steady my harried pace
With a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me,
Amidst the confusions of my day,
The calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves
With the soothing music 
Of the singing streams
That live in my memory.

Help me to know
The power of sleep,
Teach me the art
Of taking minute breaks  
Of slowing down
To look at a flower;
To chat with an old friend 
Or make a new one;
To watch a spider build a web;
To smile at a child;
Or to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day
That the race is not always won by the swift;
That there is more to life 
Than increasing its speed.

Let me look upward
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 our greater destiny.

Based on a prayer by Orin L. Crain