When I was a little girl my grandma taught me to sew. I still remember my very first lesson when she taught me to put the right sides of the fabric together and line up the edges to sew. She showed me to line up the fabric with the presser foot and that was when the fun began. 

While my Grandma had told me how to use the pedal to make the stitches go fast or slow, I didn’t realize how easy it was to go really, really fast. Quickly the fabric flew through the machine and was waiting on the other side. That was when I learned my least favorite sewing task—unstitching. It was so easy to go fast, to put the “pedal to the medal” and fly through the piece of fabric. Too easy in fact.

Sometimes we do the same thing in our day-to-day lives. We run from one event to the next, we hurry to get through our “to-do lists” and still have time for our family and friends. We are challenged to do it all, be it all and get it all done which never really works out in the end. Our stitches end up to be uneven, the line is not straight, and we end up going back to fix the things that didn’t go as we planned. 

When I had finished unstitching my first row, my grandma got me a block of wood to put underneath the pedal to keep me from going too fast. After that my stitches were a lot better because I had something keeping me from going too fast. We, too, sometimes need something to help us to slow down and concentrate on what is happening around us and where God is in our lives.

This is one of my favorite reasons we celebrate the season of Lent. For 40 days we slow down, give up the speed of our daily lives to re-center and re-focus our lives on God. You might have heard of Lent as a season where we give up something in order to make space for God, but I don’t always think that is all there is to it. Lent isn’t just about giving up, it is about putting a block behind our pedal so that we can connect with God in our lives. 

When we slow down enough we are able to see the ways God is already active in our lives. We find time to pray, to listen, to be with our family, and just be.

Can you slow down? Is there time this Lenten season to slow down just enough to pray during your day, to listen for God’s word to You, and just be in the presence of God? My challenge to all of us is to find some in the next 40 days to slow down and see God. 

Blessings to you this Lenten Season!