Signora Sheila

Our busy and hurried world lives in the fast lane. Constant activity is equated with achievement, and being overwhelmed is almost a virtue. But how true are these assumptions?

Our growing lists of contacts, profiles, followers, and things to do can give us a sense of accomplishment, importance, or success. But they don’t always mean we’re getting more done or that our relationships are better. And at what cost, seeing that we are often so stressed, distracted, and anxious?

I hear from so many people who long for more serenity, more space to breathe. People who feel trapped in busyness, ensnared by false notions of duty and obligation. And looking for fulfillment 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’ve been living, or learning to live, the slow life in Italy for over 35 years. Long before it became trendy. And I think that it’s here to stay. Because as I shared 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. And 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: 5 Core Values

My five core values are the main reasons I choose simple Slow Living: Connection, Rest, Purpose, Contentment, and Simplicity.

These core values are the principles upon which I seek to build my life as a follower of Christ. They help me align my life with His values and focus on what I want to do with my life and how I want to live it.

1. Connection

Slow Living begins with connection, especially for a follower of Christ. First and foremost, connection with God, who is the foundation of it all. As the Westminster Catechism says: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

Without connection and relationships, this world is a sad and lonely desert. 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 NIV

A slower life can can remind us to step back from the busyness and constant striving that pull us away from deepening our relationship with God, and with others.

By spending time with others we can create a caring community of communion that truly reflects what Christ wants for His Church. One that transforms our own desert life into a blossoming garden, and also waters the parched lives around us.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

2. Rest

Rest is truly the heart of Christ-centered slow living. It is also 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. But it does not come naturally to us.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [anapauō]. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly 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 was in direct contrast to the religious world of His day (and often ours), with its demanding rules and rituals. It is also very dissonant with the striving and struggling of our world.

The word rest appears hundreds of times in Scripture. The Greek word used, “anapauō,” means to rest, to relax, to refresh. Rest is God’s gift of refreshment to us. If we do not take rest, we are neglecting one of His greatest gifts.

“Shabâth,” the Hebrew word for rest has a deeper meaning. It is not only a cessation of effort and exertion, it means to leave, to put away, to get rid of, or even to celebrate.

This is the rest that God wants us to enter. This rest can only come from God, and only He can help us enter into it.

Religion always demands more. More action, more non-stop activity, or more rules to follow. With religion, our spirituality and our standing with God is up to us and what we do or don’t do.

But biblical rest, true spiritual rest, is always Sabbath rest. It’s resting from our own efforts and spiritual labors to fully embrace God’s grace. It’s relinquishing control and trusting Him to provide everything we need, spiritually and materially.

A slower life with more time to seek God and His Word can lead us from a life of striving to a true celebration of God’s presence and the peaceful rest He brings.

A Sabbath rest in which we see that while God has much for us to do, He is more interested in WHO WE ARE. For it is by being Christ-like in our daily lives that we bring Him greater glory and honor.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest, has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Hebrews 4:9-10

3. Purpose

Living with purpose is the conscious pursuit of a mindful set of goals and priorities. It’s an intentional life of purposeful determination.

Are we being guided by God’s priorities or by standards and practices we don’t really support? Slower living can help with this. It creates time and peace of mind to evaluate our goals and lifestyle. It makes room to hear God’s voice and realign our vision, purpose, and direction with His.

When we truly abide in the vine, taking time for reflection and silence before God, we are able to hear His voice and His plans more clearly. We discover what He does and doesn’t want us to do.

We find the courage to say no when necessary. And we find the strength to accept and follow His plan even when we don’t understand or when it comes at great personal cost to us. And we see that His ways are always the best.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect.

Romans 12:2

4. Contentment

A.W. Tozer wrote in The Pursuit of God 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. Such a simple thing, really, and 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, but it is essential for a peaceful godly life. Learn more by reading my post: Cultivating Contentment in a World of Stuff.

Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 4, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:11-13)

This was written from a Roman prison where Paul was forced, we might say, into a slow life and faced real hardship. But he didn’t fixate on his need, he focused on God, the only source of true strength and contentment. And in doing so, he learned the secret of how gratitude takes what you have and turns it 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 especially during my 40 days of bed rest after falling down our stairs. It brought life down to the essentials.

I discovered that although I had nothing but the bare necessities in many ways, I had everything I really needed. So many trivial things I had sought after no longer seemed important. I learned the secret of gratitude and saw 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 cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

1 Timothy 6:6-8

5. Simplicity

Simplicity really does go hand in hand with slow living. Having fewer things and fewer distractions makes it easier to slow down and rest. And, as Jesus explained in the parable of the sower, it helps prepare good soil for our hearts to hear God’s Word, receive it, and bear fruit for God.

And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

Mark 4:18-20

In my post Why I Choose Simple Living, I share how I realized that I was seeking satisfaction and happiness in things. And how that taught me the importance of seeing my possessions as useful tools, not as my source of happiness.

I realized that I wanted and needed a deep and lasting contentment and satisfaction based on remembering that God promises to never leave me or forsake me, and knowing that He will provide for all my needs. (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Simple Living helps me see that possessions cannot bring and will never be able to bring lasting satisfaction. Earthly things will never fully satisfy, because we are made in God’s image, created to live for Him.

In the quiet moments of a slower, simpler life, God draws us into a truer Sabbath rest, creating an atmosphere in which we truly take God’s Word to heart. And it is from this place of rest that our lives bear fruit. Fruit that remains because we abide in our Abba Father.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 15:16

1. Download a free PDF of “The Pursuit of God

📷 Image credits: woman carrying hat; slow down