Slow me down.

Ease the pounding of my heart by quieting my mind.

Steady my hurried pace.

Give me,
in the confusion of my day,
the calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tension of my nerves and muscles.

Help me know the magical, restoring power of sleep.

Teach me to take minute vacations by slowing down to look at a flower or a cloud,
to chat with a friend,
to pat a dog,
to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me that the race is not always to the swift,
that there is more to life than increasing speed.

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

Slow me down.

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.