SLOW ME DOWN, LORD

Slow me down, Lord, Slow me down!
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind.

Give me amid the confusion of my day
The calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles
With soothing music of the singing stream
That lives 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 a friend, to pat a dog,
To read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable
Of the Hare and the Tortoise,
That I may know that the race is not always to the swift –
There is more to life than increasing speed.

Let me look upward into the branches of the flowing oak
And know that it is great and strong
because it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me
To send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values
That I may grow towards the stars of my great destiny.

Amen
http://www.stleonardsek.org.uk/resources/Prayer_for_Busy_People.htm