This article wasn't specifically written for this blog, but it does seem to fit quite well. Truthfully, as I am finding out personally, a great many things are not changed in the slightest by living with cancer. It is true that some of the things we obsess about change with cancer. For instance we wonder about the outcome of the cancer treatment. We wonder about the chance of the cancer coming back. We worry about extra bills. But most things are the same. We find something to spend our time doing or thinking about instead of appreciating our down time as a gift from God. We still want to be busy. We still want to get ahead financially and possibly socially. Because of the forced down time in most cancers, it is a very good time to make some adjustments to living at a snail's pace. It can change your life dramatically and for the best.
Finding the Snail in You – or Living
Life in the Moment
Barbara Henderson
Life sure does move along slowly
sometimes doesn’t it? In fact, it moves
along slowly most of the time. Then –
Boom! Life takes a quantum leap in
change, and then goes back to moving at a snail’s pace. These
quantum changes often jump up in the way and surprise us. I am sure you can think of an unexpected
change that jumped up in your life; sort of slapped you in the face; left you
to make all the adjustments necessary to the change, and then left you to get
back into the routine of living life in the snail’s lane. The bigger the storm of change, the more you begin
to appreciate the snail’s pace of normal life.
The snail is one of the slower
creatures that is common to be seen by human beings. You can go on a three mile
hike and see a little snail crawling along at the start of the trail. Two hours later you come back by and notice
the little creature is still crawling along at the same speed and in the same
direction. He is just keeps plodding
along. For the individual it often seems
like he or she is living like the snail.
People are coming and going at a much faster speed doing exciting
things. Living in the snail’s lane can
seem like a very boring existence. The
truth is quite the opposite. Living life
at a snail’s pace, or in the snail’s lane, gives individuals the time to
improve and actually enjoy life. Routine
is a blessing and a gift from God.
Unfortunately, instead of enjoying the
blessing many people fill their lives up with busy work. A constant stream of
activities and engagements take up all the spare time, and there is never a
moment spent just enjoying the time God has given them. They have dreams of achieving certain
goals. If those goals are met, then they
dream bigger dreams and set bigger goals.
But, not everyone falls into the trap
of trying to get out of the snail’s pace trail.
They set out instead to enjoy the moment. They set out to live their lives thanking God
for the time He has given to them to enjoy the life He made for them. A Bible example would be King David, although
of course he wasn’t a king when he was young.
He was a simple shepherd boy. He
cared for the sheep in a lonely and dangerous place. I think I would be correct to say that David
was a cautious youth. He didn’t defeat a
lion and a bear by being unaware of his surroundings. Living in the moment, enjoying the moment,
even redeeming the time, doesn’t mean avoiding the reality of the moment. When settling the sheep down for the night
David probably placed the sheep in a boxed canyon or draw. He checked for varmints. He built a fire. In other words he made the
sheep as safe as possible. Then, he set
in to enjoy the moment. He wrote
songs. He probably played songs on a
flute or small harp. He enjoyed the
solitude that God had given him. Perhaps
he might have preferred a little company at least part of the time, but that
didn’t stop him from enjoying the time he spent alone. He drew closer to God.
Here we are today without a herd of
sheep or the solitude of a wilderness. We know life is going along at a snail’s
pace, but we don’t like it. Instead of
drawing closer to God like David did during his slow time, we fill up the empty
time with silly things. We are continually
connected to tv, internet, social networks, or even social gatherings of people
we barely even know. There is never enough time to get to know God better. Well, actually there is a lot of time to get
to know God; but instead, we fill up our spare time with nothing
important. Christians are as caught up
in busy work as anyone else. Now might
be a good time to consider our own lives, and whether or not we are spending
time that belongs to the Lord doing silly things.
First, are you being cautious like
David was when caring for his sheep?
Before you begin to rest at the end of your day ask yourself if you have
done everything that needs to be done within your power for that day? Have you taken precautions to see that your
family is as safe as is humanly possible?
Have you done everything within your budget to prepare for tomorrow and
an uncertain future? Is everyone as safe
as can be managed at the moment? If you can say, ‘Yes. I have done everything I can possibly do
today,’ then you are free to spend your time relaxing and doing things that
draw you closer to the Lord.
Second, are you dwelling on things
that are beyond your power to control?
Are you worried about your health, retirement, meal planning next week,
laundry that can’t be done at the moment, car or home repairs that aren’t in
your budget, wayward children or family members, or past mistakes? Are you so
worried about the political and social conditions of today that you can’t relax
and enjoy your slow time? Forget
it. Watch a small child enjoy the
moment. When they are playing with a
kitten or a puppy do you notice them worrying about feeding the little
creature, or finding it a new home, or cleaning up after it, or anything at
all? You just see them enjoying the
little animal. We are supposed to spend
a great deal of our slow time doing the same thing. Just enjoy the moment. Thank the Lord for
your blessings. Draw closer to Him. Don’t pile worries on top of worries on your
down time. Live in the moment. I guess you could say, ‘Embrace the snail in
you’. It is a gift from God.
Third, are you simply avoiding
spending your free time with God on purpose?
Are their things you would rather not consider or discuss with God or
anybody for that matter?
I wonder if sometimes the sudden and
dramatic changes to our boring lives are gifts from God, or at least used by
God, to get us to at least spend a little time talking to Him. After all, there is nothing like a crisis to
get God’s children talking to Him. When
we are slapped out of the blessing of living a life at a snail’s pace
Christians invariably develop a sincere and determined prayer life. It may be as short lived as the crisis, but
at least for the moment God’s children are talking to Him.
Seriously, don’t let God’s gift of
spare time to spend with Him be wasted in busy work. Do all the work that is truly necessary, and don’t
shirk your responsibilities or your duty.
Then make use of that time God has given you. At the very least don’t spend time worrying
about stuff that isn’t within your realm of authority or control. Live in the
moment for at least part of every day. I’ll
mention it one more time - ‘Embrace
the snail in you – it is a gift from God.”
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