We had been walking through DeSoto State Park and made it to the end of the trail just as it was getting dark.  And just as we were beginning to drive away I saw some bicycles taking a paved road that I had never traveled.  So you know what happened, I had to take this road, just to see where it went.  I thought I had traveled all these roads and was very surprised to find one that circled around the side of Lookout Mountain; it was called DeSoto Bluff.

                The road was about 12 miles long and at one point it came to this clearing that overlooked Fort Payne High School below.  All the timber had been cleared at this spot except for this large solitary tree.  As I looked over the valley below, my eye was constantly drawn to this lonely giant silhouetted against the darkening Alabama sky.   I began to wonder what it must feel like to outlive all of your peers and how such longevity is achieved. 

                I imagined asking Mr. Tree what advice he could give us about how to live such a long life.  As I watched his massive limbs swaying in the gentle wind I could almost hear a reply coming from those silent leafless branches.  What was the reply I received from my new friend this evening?  Learn to enjoy solitude and relax.  As I thought about it, I began to realize how important it is to just slow down, be still and relax.  We live and work in such a restless condition, our days and nights are relentlessly filled with activities and obligations that we do not have time to enjoy life.

                Our Master knew we must come apart and rest awhile, or else we may just plain come apart.  I am told that you will break the bow if you keep it always bent.  I am afraid we have a lot in common with the tense bow that is constantly stretched and stressed to the breaking point with no time to rest and find our strength again.  Any time we pause during the day we find ourselves breathless for no reason and busy doing nothing.  Let us beware of the barrenness of a busy life and realize that silence is but a rich pause in the music of life.

                If you would take a moment to listen to the sounds of the gentle wind as it blows through the branches of your life you might catch another voice speaking to you and saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Something to think about:

• The rest of your days depend on the rest of your nights.

• No sleep can be tranquil unless the mind is at rest.

• Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.

• In divine things there is never hurry, and hurry is not a divine thing.

• Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.

• Rashness and haste make all things insecure.

• Slow me down, Lord; I am going too fast.
• I can’t see my brother when he’s walking past.
  I miss a lot of good things day by day;
  I don’t know a blessing when it comes my way.

• We move through life in such a distracted way that we do not even take the time and rest to wonder if any of the things we think, say, or do are worth thinking, saying, or doing.

Driving in the slow lane
Rickey Moore