SLOW ME DOWN LORD

I can't remember where and when and how i got this prayer... but after reading it..it felt like stress and pressure have been flushed out of my system...

SLOW ME DOWN LORD

Slow me down, Lord!
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried 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 and muscles
With the soothing music
Of the 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
Of slowing down
To look at a flower;
To chat with an old friend
Or make a new one;
To pat a stray dog;
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 of the fable of the hare and tortoise that i may know
That the race is not always to the swift;
That there is more to life
Than just 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.
from a tiny acorn

Slow me down, Lord,
And inspire me to send my roots deep
Into the soil of life's enduring values
That I may grow more surely toward the stars
Of my greater destiny.

Wilferd A. Peterson