A Prayer During COVID-19: The Speed of Grace

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Oh Lord,

My life has been a constant state of rushing, from one thing to the next. On the Appalachian Trail, when we were supposed to be “getting away from it all,” I was constantly pushing to rush through breakfast, lunch, and supper so we could get the maximum number of miles done before falling into our sleeping bags at night. Then we’d wake up early and repeat. My senior year in high school was a very busy time as I worked to graduate as well as other involvement…

• Director of Evangelism, (which included heading up VBS)
• Big Brothers
• Thursday night Bible school
• A weekly Bible study
• Street evangelism
• Third Sunday outreach
• Prison services

It got so bad that I’d brag that my dad was the pastor, but I ran the church. I gloried in my busyness and thought you were also pleased. I took this belief into my marriage.

I thank you for giving me the two years at Faith Builders to teach me to live at the speed of grace. It started with a late arrival in the middle of the night because I had been painting our rental house the day we were to leave. It ended with the book An Unhurried Life as a graduation gift. This time and this book were a means of your grace to help me recover from my addiction to speed.

The last three years haven’t been hurry free, but have been much richer and freer than my pre-Faith Builders life. I thank-you for a wife and children who are teaching me to slow down as well as the Full Focus Planner, a tool which has helped me achieve more while doing less. It has also helped me win at work and succeed at life.

All three years of growth seem to have died with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All the routines, rituals, and richness of a schedule I could control have rushed away and, until I sat down to write this prayer, I had been right back to my speed addict ways: constantly sending and receiving messages, receiving what the news had to throw at me and not so courteously passing on articles to people who didn’t agree with my view of this situation. Once again I was searching for and volunteering for needs that I could meet.

Oh God, I’ve been so foolish, once again rushing ahead of your plans for me. You and I both know that there are a lot of things that need to be done at this time. But you know that a life lived at the speed of grace is much more important at this time of need. Thanks for the reminder; I’ll try to keep it in mind.

Homework

1. An Unhurried Life | Visit unhurriedliving.com/store and embark on your own unhurried journey.
2. COVID-19 Prayer | The process of writing this prayer was very healing and helpful to me. I’d recommend that you do the same. If it seems appropriate, post your prayer in the comments section below.
3. The Full Focus Planner®️ | Check out my other blog about why I feel this tool is so helpful.