The Hare Outruns a Hound
& PRAYER to slow down
There once was a hound who discovered a hare
In the woods on the top of a knoll,
He barked in delight and gave chase till the night
But the hare disappeared down a hole.
What a laugh! mocked a shepherd, Can't you be more quick
Hunting food for your puppies and wife?
Answered Hound: Friend, it's one thing to run for your lunch,
-- Another to run for your life!
MORAL: Your needs often decide your performance.
PRAYER to slow down
It comforts me, Holy God outside of time,
to realize that you are time's inventor
so you have total grasp of the disciplines of living in time:
not to give our life either an unnatural pace
or two slow a tempo,
not to miss opportunities,
not to come late, not to run out of time,
anxieties all too common in our world.
Often we speak to you as if you too were time-bound
though you aren't.
Instead you live outside of time,
in that land we glimpse just occasionally,
in ecstasy or delight,
a land to which we travel
not by hurrying up but by slowing down.
Guide us there often.
Amen.
from PRAYERS AND FABLES by William Cleary
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