In our busy and hectic world, life is lived in the fast lane. Constant activity is equated with achievement, and feeling overwhelmed by to-do lists is seen as a positive thing. But are these assumptions truly valid?
Having a growing list of contacts, profiles, followers and things to do can make us feel accomplished, important or successful. However, they don’t necessarily mean that we’re achieving more or that our relationships are improving. And what is the cost, given that we are often so stressed, distracted and anxious?
I speak to so many people who long for more serenity and space to breathe. They feel trapped by busyness and ensnared by false notions of duty and obligation. They are looking for fulfilment in the wrong places or in the wrong ways.
Enter Slow Living
Perhaps that is why slow living has become a growing trend, especially since 2020. But is it just a passing fad or a valid alternative that’s here to stay?
I have been living — or rather, learning to live — the slow life in Italy for over 35 years. Long before it became trendy. I think it’s here to stay, becasue as I wrote in my post The Benefits of Italian Slow Living, a slow life is sustainable.
Adopting a slower lifestyle was an easy choice for me because I longed for simplicity. It was also a natural choice because the Italian ‘dolce vita’ lends itself naturally to a slower life.
I realize that Slow Living may not be the right choice for everyone, but I know that it can bring greater peace and serenity to all those who choose to give it a try. Let’s see why and how.
Slow Living: Five Core Values
My five core values are the main reasons I choose a simple, slow lifestyle: Connection, Rest, Purpose, Contentment and Simplicity.
I seek to build my life as a follower of Christ upon these core values. They help me to align my life with God’s values, and to focus on how I want to live my life and what I want to do with it.
1. Connection
For a follower of Christ, slow living begins with connection. First and foremost is connection with God, the foundation of it all. As the Westminster Catechism states, ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.’
Without connection and relationships, this world would be a sad and lonely place. God knew this, which is why he gave us the gifts of family and community.
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18
A slower pace of life can remind us to take a step back from the busyness and constant rushing around that prevent us from deepening our relationships with God and others.
Spending time with others enables us to create a caring community of communion that truly reflects Christ’s vision for His Church. This community has the power to transform our lives, which can sometimes feel like lonely deserts, into blossoming gardens that also nourish those around us.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help him up.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
2. Rest
Rest is at the heart of Christ-centred slow living. Rest also expresses the Father-heart of God, who sent His Son to bring true rest and peace to the world. God created rest. He Himself rested, and He wants us to rest — He even commands it. However, rest does not come naturally to us.
Come to me, all who are weary and are burdened, and I will give you rest [anapauō]. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
Christ’s rest stood in stark contrast to the demanding rules and rituals of the religious world of his day (and often ours). It also contrasts sharply with the striving and struggling of our world today.
The word ‘rest’ appears hundreds of times in Scripture. The Greek word used, ‘anapauō’, means to rest, relax and refresh. Rest is God’s gift of refreshment to us. If we fail to rest, we are neglecting one of His greatest gifts.
“Shabâth,” the Hebrew word for rest has a deeper meaning. It signifies not only a cessation of effort and exertion, but also the act of putting something away, leaving it behind—or even of celebrating something.
This is the rest that God wants us to experience. This rest can only come from God, and only He can help us enter into it.
Religion always demands more. It requires more action, more non-stop activity, and more rules to follow. With religion, it is up to us to determine our spirituality and our standing with God based on what we do or don’t do.
But biblical rest, true spiritual rest, is Sabbath rest. It means resting from our own efforts and spiritual labors in order to fully embrace God’s grace. It means relinquishing control and trusting God to provide for all our needs, both spiritual and material.
A slower life with more time to seek God and His word can transform our existence, leading us from a life of striving to a celebration of God’s presence and the peace He offers.
In Sabbath rest, we realise that while God has much for us to do, He is more interested in who we are. It is by being Christ-like in our daily lives that we bring Him greater glory, honour and joy.
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest, also rests from their works just as God did from his.
Hebrews 4:8-10
3. Purpose
Living with purpose means consciously pursuing a set of mindful goals and priorities. It’s a life of intentional purpose and determination.
Are we guided by God’s priorities, or by standards and practices that we don’t truly support? Slower living can help with this. It creates time and peace of mind to evaluate our goals and lifestyle. It creates space to hear God’s voice and realign our vision, purpose and direction with His.
When we truly abide in the vine, we make time for reflection and silence in God’s. This connection allows us to hear His voice more clearly and understand His plans more fully. We discover what He wants and doesn’t want us to do.
We find the courage to say no when necessary. We find the strength to accept and follow His plan even when we don’t understand it or it comes at a great personal cost. We see that His ways are always the best.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2
4. Contentment
In The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer wrote that ‘there is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess — always to possess. It covets ‘things’ with a deep and fierce passion”. 1
Contentment, or happiness with your situation in life, is elusive. It’s such a simple thing, yet so hard to hold on to. That’s because Tozer was right. We always want more. Deep contentment goes against our nature and our desires, yet it is essential for leading a peaceful godly life. Learn more by reading my post: Cultivating Contentment in a World of Stuff.
In Philippians 4, Paul wrote, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13)
He wrote this while imprisoned in Rome, where he was forced into a slower way of life and faced real hardship. However, rather than fixating on his needs, he focused on God, the only source of true strength and contentment. In doing so, he discovered that gratitude transforms what you have into “enough”.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
Like Paul, I have found that a slower pace of life (whether forced or not) lifts my heart to a higher level. I experienced this particularly during the 40 days I spent in bed after falling down our stairs. It reduced life to the essentials.
I discovered that although in some ways I had nothing but the bare necessities — I had everything I really needed. So many of the trivial things I had sought after no longer seemed important. I learned the secret of gratitude and realized that when we have Jesus we truly have enough, and more than enough.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1 Timothy 6:6-8
5. Simplicity
Simplicity and slow living go hand in hand. Having fewer possessions and fewer distractions makes it easier to slow down and rest. For as Jesus explained in the parable of the sower, weeding things out of our lives helps prepare ground in our hearts to receive God’s Word and bear fruit for Him.
Still others, like seed sown among thorns hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.
Mark 4:18-20
In my post Why I Choose Simple Living, I talk about how I realized that I was seeking satisfaction and happiness from material things. This taught me the importance of seeing my possessions as useful tools, rather than a source of happiness.
I realized that I needed a deep and lasting contentment and satisfaction based on the knowledge that God promises never to leave me or forsake me and to provide for all my needs, (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Simple living has helped me to realise that material possessions will never be able to bring lasting satisfaction. Earthly things can never fully satisfy us because we are made in God’s image and created to live for Him and His kingdom.
In the quiet moments of a slower, simpler life, God draws us into true Sabbath rest, creating an atmosphere in which we can take His Word to heart. It is from this place of rest that our lives bear fruit. Fruit that endures because we abide in our Abba Father.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
John 15:16
1. Download a free PDF of “The Pursuit of God
📷 Image credits: woman carrying hat; slow down
You are profoundly wise, my dear friend. In a world of fast often thoughtless living, slow living is a thoughtful pursuit of what is good, honorable, right, and pure. Possessions can’t satisfy–they add concern to life as to what to do with them, how to protect them. Rest is the antithesis of how we live life too often–especially here in America. The church is too often so busy doing that we forget how to be in one another’s presence and in God’s presence, just enjoying Him and others. Thanks for this, Sheila. This is a great reminder of what really matters.
I’m glad you enjoyed this post, Dayle. You’re right, if we don’t take time for being present, we miss so much of what really matters. May the Lord teach us to seek His face more!
Such wisdom here, Sheila! I wish I’d been familiar with those five core values years ago when parenting, teaching elementary school, and serving at church filled nearly every hour of every day, week after week. Looking back I see the frenzy of it all and wish I could go back to set priorities more intentionally. Now we’re retired and slow living is more attainable, yet I still have to be careful not to over-commit myself. God is still working on me!!
I know, Nancy, I wish I’d been more familiar with them too! And since discovering Slow Living, we have found that it has also increased our fruitfulness. No longer are we spread so thin that we do things piecemeal. We are more able to give our all to a few things, do them better, and go about them with so much peace. But you’re right it is a constant struggle. Simplicity does not come easily for us, because we usually think that it all depends on us!
Very well said! I enjoyed reading these words this morning. I have been slowing the pace of life for a few years now and the truth is there is a “Better Way” to live life…it may be counter cultural and many don’t understand it…yet our relationships with God and others are truly the reason He created us. Thank you for sharing Miss Sheila!
Thanks, Marty. I’m blessed that this post resonated with you. There is a better way. We don’t have to rush through life missing the most important and meaningful things!