"All the Running You Can Do" - by Rev. Weldon Bares

One of the strangest books I have ever read was written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” It tells the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a strange world of fantasy.

In this underground world, Alice meets the Red Queen, who observed, “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”

Isn’t that the truth? We try to run twice as fast, but we just can’t keep up. We are spinning our wheels, but getting nowhere.

Is there an answer to our frantic scurrying around? I believe there is. It is found in the One who said, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life span? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6: 27-28)

In the early 1600's Saint Francis de Sales wrote, “Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”

I like the words of Paul Simon in a great old song: “Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last.” (“The 59th Street Bridge Song”)

So today, slow down. Consider the lilies. Breathe. Look in faith to the Lord.