Gentle Reminders to Slow Down (Because All Of This Is About Relationship, Not Results)

It's true... I confess - I pretty much always
use a box mix when making brownies.... as
evidenced by the plastic on the counter
under the blob of chocolate. :)

Chocolate covers his face....and shirt....splotches of it on his arm and the counter space all around us.  He was bored this afternoon, so I invited him to help me.... and I may have grumbled a little in my heart as I did.  Brownie-making is a slow, messy process when an almost-2-year-old is involved.  This thought hits my heart out of nowhere and I wonder....


How many things are slow and messy when I'm involved?


I stand back for a minute, close enough to catch him if he falls off the big chair he's standing on, but far enough to let him really engage this big bowl of chocolate. "Dirt!"  He says it with a smile, digging his spoon deeper into the triple dark chocolate brownie batter and trying to stir in response to my coaching.


If our hurry hurts our children's hearts, then doesn't slowing down build life and peace and healing into them? Slowing down to tell them that their hearts are more precious to us than our goals and schedules? 


And I find myself repenting for my grumbling heart in asking him to help me, and the Father is dropping all of this into my heart, all at once...these gentle reminders that wreck my heart all over again.... and I remember that He invites me into partnership with Him when He could so much more easily just say the word and get it all done, all on His own, apart from me.... How it creates more "mess" for Him when He lets me work alongside Him but how it's His joy, His delight, His burning desire just to have me right here next to Him through it all... mess and all....



Because isn't it relationship as opposed to results that's the point of this whole journey together??  


And how much does He love me, that He slows down His processes and creates this space for me, right next to Him?  


And sometimes doesn't He just want us to slow down with Him, stop trying so hard to achieve, and just be here next to Him?  Just respond, in love and surrender, to His pursuit of our hearts?



Because in His heart, priority number 1... is my heart.  YOUR heart.  And NOT all that we can accomplish for Him.  What love.... love that slows down to connect with our hearts along the way.... love that puts results and goals aside to focus on relationship.... love that reveals and uncovers and shares these mysteries with us while allowing us to work with Him.... love that speaks value and life and healing over our hearts as we journey together, us right here next to Him.


Father, give us grace today, gentle reminders to slow down and notice Your pursuit of our hearts... Your pursuit of real, living relationship with us... in the midst of this partnership with You.


May you see evidence of His nearness all around you today,

Would you share a piece of your heart, your journey, with us today? 

*As you go about your lives, what does God use to whisper reminders to your heart that He's after relationship with you more than anything else?

*How often do you find yourself slowing down to just breathe in that assurance... that it's nowhere near as much about results as it is about His intimate pursuit of our hearts, and our response?