a little too fast?

The other day I had an experience that has stayed with me.  My littlest kids and I were with a friend, who was in charge of watching a bunch of little ones for our youth group.  She has this great activity in which the kids take turns being the leader as they all have musical instruments and march around the room.  At first, it was great!  People were taking turns nicely, the ones following did so pretty well, and everyone was having fun.

Then, some of the older kids thought it would be fun to zoom fast and crazy around the room.  Well, it was fun for them, but the sweet littler ones couldn't keep up or follow and rather quickly became confused.  There was no parade anymore.

Of course, the kids were okay with it...it didn't really matter to them :). However, it made me think about speed.

I have had many people tell me that I speak quickly, think quickly, and process and move on with things quickly.  My dad at a very early age asked me to either slow down or speak more clearly...I opted to shoot for the second, for whatever reason. 

While there are definitely advantages to speed  (I can think rather quickly on my feet which can be an advantage with nine children), there are also major disadvantages!  For instance, I think of so many options to any given scenario, I am sometimes paralyzed into inaction when trying to decide between and weigh each one out in my mind.

When I saw those children, I thought back on a moment where I saw myself on a video recording...or I should say, listened to myself.  I talked ridiculously fast! And, I realized that I spoke that way a lot!  I not only spoke that way, but I act that way as well.  It is as if with each kid I gradually began doing and speaking faster and faster to compensate.  The older kids have gotten used to it...the younger ones have been a little lost in the process :).

For instance, I know that my kids do many things well; however, there are definitely some key bits of knowledge missing from their education.  Example:  The other day I watched a dear friend teaching her youngest child a preschool lesson about the calendar and seasons.  "What a great idea!" I thought, and set up my own little time to teach.  As I welcomed some of my younger ones to the activity, some of the "middle" ones trickled in with interest.  I began to ask, "who knows how many months there are in the year?"  Silence.  A couple hesitant guesses finally came out: "two?", "four?" "uh, seven?" (This last one coming from my 10 year old.)

Oh my :).

They quickly learned them (well, the older ones did, and no harm done), but it made me think about some of the dangers of trying to "maximize" my time by accelerating so fast.  My little ones, like the ones in that parade line, are left disoriented and confused, unsure of where to go.

Since then, I have taken time to sit and carefully explain things to my little ones in words they understand, rather than hurriedly rushing towards some level of comprehension and moving on.  I have taken time to s-p-e-a-k s-l-o-w-e-r.

I have also experienced another instance of how my speed needs to be kept in check.  I have a sweet friend whose opinions and thoughts I have missed many times because I haven't been still in our conversations as she analyzes, muses, and contemplates an issue before giving feedback or forming opinions.  I tend to rush from one topic to the next, piggy-backing on idea after idea.  There are so many times when this "piggy-backing" is a good thing...but not so much in friendships and not with people, I am finding more and more :).  Fortunately, like I said, she still loves me after all these years, but I have been grateful with her gentle recent reminder of who she is and how she thinks.

So, speed has its place, but there is also blessings to be unveiled, discovered, and relished in the slow, still moments of life.

(Kid's book to go with it..."Zippety-zoom".)