Slow Motion: A Life in the Slow Lane
By Kasi Pruitt
We often don’t know what the two words “slow motion”mean. I’ve been there. When I was a mom to only our two daughters, everything happened so quickly, it was constant fast forward! It was life in the fast lane! They learned to walk, talk, eat, play, sit up, and crawl all when they were “supposed to.”And, it happened quickly. Too quickly! Often times, I didn’t even notice all the things they would learn on a day-to-day basis. They would just do the normal baby things; it was great, and I feel like I may have missed the true beauty of every occurrence.
Then, my sweet son (adopted from Uganda at 6 months) came into our family. The speed of meeting developmental milestones came to a screeching halt. The things that babies usually do at 6, 12, or 18 months. . .our son couldn’t do them when he was “supposed” to. I will not lie, it is hard to see your son, surrounded by children his age or even younger being able to do more than him. I often prayed that the Lord would “catch him up”. I wanted him to be able to play with his friends at church, and I longed for him to not struggle to do what he “should” be doing.
As I prayed, the Lord gave me a beautiful gift of insight that I believe I may have missed the first couple of times through the early-childhood process. When you have a child who doesn’t develop at a normal speed, you celebrate everything. He would move his head from side to side and we would cheer! He would play with a toy and we would jump up and down! He would watch his sisters run around the room and we would sing silly songs of joy!
You see, we’re so busy that wonderful things become “normal”, and we miss out on the miraculous handiwork of our God. The things I took for granted with my girls became huge celebrations with our son. All to often, we see things as common that are truly miracles.
Of course, I still pray that God would bring healing to our little guy. I would love for him to be able to run around with his sisters or to hear him say, “Momma!”I long to hear him laugh or to not struggle to sit up. I hate the fact that he has seizures, and we are about to have to go see yet another neurologist.
But, being a mom to this little guy is a gift bigger than I could ever imagined. In so many ways, watching your son develop in slow motion opens my eyes to so many things going on around me. Not only do I notice and celebrate every little thing he does but I now notice all the little things that our girls do as well. God has used our son to make what I considered “common”into the “not so common”and even into “miraculous.”All to often we are so busy complaining on what we don’t have, what we want, how bad our day is, or how the whole world is out to get us that we miss out on all the goodness the Lord gives us daily.
Slow motion. Two words that I think we all need to consider. Whether your child is developmentally on schedule, ahead of others their age, or even slower than most. Celebrate all the little moments the Lord gives. Take a few a minutes daily to slow down and praise Him for His goodness and faithfulness. Be mindful that the things you consider to be common, just might not be so common.
I could not me more thankful that the Lord has made the words “slow motion”become such a huge part of our life. His love, goodness, faithfulness, grace, and mercy towards my son often brings me to tears.
Lord, help me to not take Your work for granted. May I continually live life in the slow lane. Noticing everything is truly a miracle from You and is a picture of Your grace. Allow me to always remember that what may seem slow to me or to the world, is always “right on time” when You’re involved in it.