Slowing Down on Purpose – It’s Porch Time
Sunshine called. Today was perfect for porch time. I listened to the birds’ spring call to connect with their beloved; first a clear high pitch, and then an answer in a lower tone. They call and edge nearer to find one another.
Spending time on my porch is my way to slow down and match step with nature. [Tweet This]
Our world is hurried. But my backyard is slow and contemplative. Birds chirp as they build nests or feed their chicks. Bees hum about the beauty of newly opened flowers and gather today’s portion. Small critters frolic in the days delight. Nothing hurries—it simply is, taking time as it comes.
But, the truth is also not lost on me. Nature is just as fallen as I am, yet somehow has discovered how to gracefully flow. Yes, hawks swoop to eat their prey and trees succumb to insects and disease. Yet their world seems so much more peaceful than the one I strive in.
Have they discovered how to move at the speed of ‘enough?’
Have they been able to ‘live and move and have their being’ — rather than doing—to match pace with God’s rhythm?
I guess that’s why I love porch time so much. It regulates the rhythm of my heart to His. [Tweet This]
It slows my pace so that when my beloved calls, I am able to answer. Pausing helps me to notice things around me; new buds on my peonies; chives getting ready to flower; a tree limb that fell during the last storm. Taking time helps me to enjoy things I would normally rush right past, like my yellow primroses thriving more than they were last year.
Enjoying today helps me try my hand at planting peas — just because.
Focusing on ‘right now’ shows me three industrious ants who have invited themselves to my porch and may need a bit of pest control. Porch time helps me to pause, enjoy, notice, and be mindful of where I am and where I am going.
Spending porch-time has helped me today. It’s been a Sabbath-rest, of hearing my Beloved’s call. I have stemmed the flow of the world for just a bit so I can listen to my heart…
So what am I hearing?
Enjoy today
Pause long enough to notice
Assess my direction
Focus on whatever is… true, noble, worthy of praise…Philippians 4:8
“…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
How about you…How is God speaking to you today?
Can you feel the tug on your accelerator, drawing you to slow down? [Tweet This]
Pause and reflect:
Where can you can feel the tug on your accelerator, drawing you to slow down?
What benefits do you find? How does your perspective change?
Do you find yourself thinking, “I need to do this more often?”
How can you be more intentional in scheduling time for this?
I’d love to hear about your ‘porch time’
Jeanne
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What a lovely view……….how many like these do we miss everyday in our hurried world……..
He tells us to “Be still and know……….we should all find a place set aside to be with Him. Thank you, Jeanne, for sharing yours with us. Love Mom
Mom, We will have lunch on the porch when you visit 🙂
I enjoyed spending time on your porch tonight, Jeanne. We live in the city so when I sit on the back porch of our old house, the only quiet thing is my heart. We are planning to move to the country this year, Lord willing. I look forward to my surroundings matching my heart. 🙂 Beautiful post!
The quiet heart is what we need, Cathy. Thanks for your comment and I look forward to hearing about your move. Blessings!!
Looking forward to connecting, Cathy.
Beautiful post. I sit on my porch and soak up the sun. We have a small spring fed pond in the backyard. Birds come and nibble at the feeder. I am looking forward to the hummingbirds. Even 15 min on my porch quiets my soul.
Cherrilynn, it doesn’t take long does it. Just 15 minutes can set our heart for the day. But, how I love to linger when I can. Thanks for sharing your porch time with me. I am also looking forward to hummingbirds. I don’t have feeders, just the flowers that they love.
When I read your title, my first response was “Selah”–the pause that refreshes. I so related to porch time and just spent several hours on my screened porch in study and prayer with a BFF who visited for a few days. Love hearing the birds, seeing the flowers and basking in God’s goodness. Thanks for the peaceful post.
Marilyn, Oh how I love that word – Selah. Thanks for sharing your porch time experience. What a wonderful time to share with your BFF…and isn’t He our BFF too!! Basking is a great word to describe time in His presence.
Thanks, Jeanne, for this lovely reminder. I’m blessed to have a deck overlooking a small lake surrounded by woods. Praise poems often come to me during a coffee break on the deck, and most of the poems in Living in the Nature Poem did too. Such quiet times are vital to us as writers and, more importantly, as Christians eager to hear God in the quiet.
Your deck sounds lovely, Mary. I know that feeling, when the words begin to flow in the stillness. So beautiful and such a gift. Thanks for your thoughts today about your ‘porch time.’
I’m learning to find small quiet moments of stillness with God. Usually it is in the morning before my children wake up. The moment might be short, but I often experience God’s presence in a rich way.
The funny thing, Larissa, is that we often think, “the time is short” but God is outside of time. Any time in His presence is powerful. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. And, I remember when my kids were small – carving out time was tricky 🙂
My porch time is prayer and meditation. It’s also living in the moment during the simple and mundane moments seeing the extraordinary within the ordinary. Every moment is chance for porch time. We just to have to see it.
You are so right, Jodi. The trouble is, sometimes the busyness can take over – I have to consciously choose down-time or porch time. Time in God’s presence to just BE. Reflecting and enjoying today. It is sort of like the “stop and smell the roses” idea which is an old saying but a huge truth. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your comment. I would love to have tea on the porch with you someday.