The world around us is not messing around. Every day, every week, every alert brings something new to our attention. Our lives and futures seem to constantly shift, and it can be a full time job just to keep up.
Like it or not, we are on the move. (Even if you do nothing, you’re still moving through time and space). And you’ve probably noticed that opinions vary widely on the speed at which we are moving. There are things in our lives we’d love to go faster; others at a leisurely pace. We compare our pace and progress to those around us, and are keen to project our preferences onto the world at large.
Imagine our lives are like our vehicle of choice. If you’re stuck on one speed, there’s probably something wrong. In order to navigate wisely and well, you’re going to need to learn when and how to speed up, slow down, and split the difference.
Because how we are moving affects how we are doing.
When Going Fast Is Necessary
It’s easier than ever to go as fast as possible. We can transmit ideas around the world in seconds, and our bodies in hours. The appeal of going fast brings excitement and possibility. It’s a call to adventure, to risk, to swing and dream big. In a slogan popularized by Mark Zuckerberg, and eagerly adopted by entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond, it’s a time to “move fast and break things.”
You don’t have to be an innovator to move swiftly. Necessary changes often require speed and decisive action. Those stuck in their careers might need to leave their jobs right now. A toxic relationship might necessitate immediate boundaries. Decay or sin in our lives might require us to change direction today.
Moving fast also helps us overcome our fears – of failure, making a wrong move, the unknown. We won’t be perfect, and we’ll make plenty of mistakes. But disrupting what’s normal might afford us something far better – if we have the courage to take the leap.
But with its appeal also comes its danger. Speedy choice after speedy choice often fails to consider their long-term impact. We grow exhausted as we reach and surpass our limits. And we can leave behind broken people and places we have treated as obstacles rather than sources of value. In chasing the promise of a better future, we create damaged presents (which of course, can’t help but impact the future).
The Call to Go Slow
Reducing our speed is not just something for construction zones, vacations, or old age. Certain things – in work, relationships, and life – take time and careful attention to come to fruition.
Lasting growth doesn’t happen overnight. The process of learning and unlearning and maturing unfolds with complexity and nuance. The same goes for restoration. There is much in our world and in ourselves that is broken and off balance. Those disruptors may break fast, but it can take a good deal of time and care for them to be made whole again.
Sometimes we associate slowness with ease, but it can also be frustrating. We wish change were happening faster. We wish we were more accomplished right now. We wish we (or they) could just get over it. We wish we weren’t still stuck in that pattern.
People of faith are on a path to discover God’s purpose for their lives. We put words around this process like “discipleship” and “sanctification”, but in essence, we are invited to imitate Jesus, and through his example, become more fully who we were created to be. That transformation is deep and deliberate. “The daily work of becoming a new kind of people, marked by the mercy, grace, love, and humility of Jesus, is the work that must start again today and tomorrow and the day after that,” writes Tish Harrison Warren. “We must, by God’s grace, go slow and repair things.”
Living in the Tension
The invitation to slowness, and the invitation to speed, are calls to attention. Instinctively, there are moments when we recognize we are moving too fast. And there are seasons in which disruption shakes us awake.
Look to act fast:
- When the next step is clear.
- When harm needs to be stopped.
- When opportunities for good arise.
- When the reward is worth the risk.
Seek to move slow:
- When the next step requires deep thought.
- When people/things need repair.
- When you’re committed to long-term change.
- When the reward is worth the wait.
You may well need to speed up in some things and slow down in others. Our timing and the timing of others will often seem at odds. God’s timing is sometimes faster, and often slower, than we want, but it is always purposeful. Commit to finding that purpose in every speed and season.
So, where in your life do you need to act boldly, and where do you need to slow down and make things whole?
