GETTING ON WITH LIFE: #4 Slowing Down to Smell the Roses

By Dr. Gilbert W. Stafford
Scripture: Luke 11:38-42

WHAT IS A QUALITY LIFE? 

I was in Sydney, Australia a year ago. It was my first time there. What I found was altogether winsome. In fact, I want to go back. I liked the spacious parks, the serene harbors, the fascinating architecture, but most of all, the people. I enjoyed the way they related both to me and to the world around them. The employees in the small hotel where I stayed were never too busy to be of service. They paused long enough to look me in the eye and communicate with me. In the shops, many of the clerks seemed to be more interested in getting to know me than they were in selling me something. On the beach in front of the world-famous opera house, families were having picnics, playing simple games, and enjoying the sight of hundreds of sailboats in the harbor. Taking a walk one day in the Botanical Gardens, I saw people strolling in leisurely fashion, enjoying each other’s company, eating some lunch which they had brought along, and absorbing the atmosphere of a “coolish” day in July which in Australia is a winter month. They were even taking time to smell the roses.

On my last day there I read a newspaper article about the different ways Americans, Japanese, and Australians understand what makes for good quality in life. Generally, Americans think that quality means that something works. If things are operating well, we consider them to be of good quality. For Japanese people, quality means perfection. They want everything to be just right. Life, an organization, a system is one of good quality, then, when nothing at all is wrong with it.

But what about Australians? For them, quality is measured by whether people have good relationships. Life, things, and organizations, are of good quality when the people involved relate in a wholesome way to each other.1

When I read that, I had an “A-Ha!” experience. That was why people at the hotel were so service oriented. That is why many clerks were more interested in me as a person than in selling something to me, and why so many families were on the beach, and why people were strolling in the Botanical Gardens. It was all about relationships. They were taking the time to smell the fragrance of life.

Isn’t that what Jesus taught? The Jesus way is to slow down and tune in to God, to others, and to God’s good creation. That’s the best of getting on with life.

THE MARY MODE OF LIFE 

Luke 10:38-42 records the story of Jesus being a guest at the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany: “Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’”2

In light of what we said earlier about the views of Americans and Japanese concerning quality Martha was somewhat like an American and a Japanese in her approach to life. She wanted the house-hold to work well; perhaps, she wanted to be the perfect hostess. I can imagine that when the time came for Jesus to leave her house she wanted him to be able to brag on how efficient she had been, how clean the house was, how delicious the meal was, and how comfortable she had made him feel. Nothing would have pleased her more than to have received Jesus’ good housekeeping award.

Mary, her sister, however, was more like an Australian in her approach. Instead of trying to be the perfect hostess running the most efficient household, she concentrated on getting to know the guest in the house: Jesus of Nazareth. She sat at Jesus’ feet listening to what he had to say.

Don’t you wish that you knew what he said to Mary? If only she had recorded the conversation in the way men of her day recorded their conversations with Jesus. When our Lord talked with women, it wasn’t at though, all of a sudden, he ceased being the Word made flesh. No, he was the same divine person valuing women along with men. It was as important for them to hear his teachings on a one-to-one basis as it was for the men. Jesus had time for all sorts of people—for children, for women, for those who were sick and afflicted. He had time for the tax gatherer Zaccheus as well as for the blind beggar. He had time for the sinful Mary Magdalene as well as for the centurion’s daughter who was on her deathbed. He had time to teach and to heal. He had time to pray and to dine.

And so, at the home of Mary and Martha, Jesus found one of his kind—a woman who had time to sit at his feet and listen to what he had to say. When Martha complained about what her sister was doing, Jesus first of all, chided her, and then commended Mary: “’Martha, Martha,’ he said, ‘you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

The way Jesus had of getting on with life was to stop along the way to take in its fragrances. Mary, too, had chosen this good way. She took the time to smell the fragrance of people’s lives.

How well are you doing, my friend, at this matter of stopping along the way to smell the roses, so to speak? Are you so busy getting on with life that you are missing the fragrance of Christ? It may be you are so caught up in daily routines that you aren’t paying much attention to Jesus in your midst or to anybody or anything else, for that matter. You are too busy getting on to the next thing on the agenda, too busy getting the job done, too busy keeping the machinery going, too busy making sure that you will win the award for making something work well. You are so busy being in the Martha mode, that you have no time for being in the Mary mode. No time for God’s good creation; no time for others; no time for God.

God wants us to enjoy his world, to enjoy others, and to enjoy him.

SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY GOD’S WORLD 

It’s a wonderful world we have to enjoy. As the hymn puts it: “This is my Father’s world, The birds their carols raise, The morning light, the lily white, Declare their Maker’s praise. This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair; In the rustling grass I hear Him pass, He speaks to me everywhere.”3 Have you slowed down enough to hear the Heavenly Father’s voice in the Heavenly Father’s world? Let us slow down and enjoy God’s good creation.

SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY OTHERS 

Let us also slow down and enjoy others. That’s what Mary was doing. She was enjoying the company of the man from Galilee, and, of course, at the same time was enjoying the presence of God. Even though Jesus was in a category all his own, the fact of the matter is that whenever we enjoy the presence of others it is the opportunity to enjoy the presence of God, also. Because we are created in the image of God, others reflect something of God. In others we meet Dog. As Jesus in Matthew 25:35-36 says: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Verse 40:
“Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” In others, then, we meet God. So slow down, my friend, and tune into others. Get to know their needs. Take the time to make a contribution to their lives. In so doing you will meet and serve God.

SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY GOD 

The very best way to get on with life, however, is to slow down and enjoy not only God’s good creation, and others, but God himself. I was a guest at a church one time which I had a service lasting from 6 PM until about 10:30. The place was packed. I was up front where I could see that the congregation was made up of all ages. The service consisted of singing, testimonies, exhortations, a sermon, prayer, words of encouragement. Everybody seemed to have a participatory attitude. In the course of the evening, some of the children fell off to sleep. When they did, they were placed on the floor with books and coats as their pillows, and the service went on.

Afterwards, I asked the pastor how often this length of service took place. “O, every Sunday evening,” he replied. “And the people continue coming back week after week?” I asked. “Of course,” he replied rather incredulously. “Do you want to know why?” he asked. “It’s because we just simply enjoy God.”

Well, to be sure, that would make a difference, wouldn’t it? Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to make a case for long services. I’ve been in some long ones which were almost unbearable, and, on the other hand, I’ve been in some very short ones which were vibrant with God’s presence. It isn’t the length that is the important thing. The important thing is that people slow down long enough to really enjoy God.

Slow down, my friend, and smell the roses. Slow down and enjoy the fragrance of God in other people. Slow down and enjoy God himself. It’s a mighty good way to live.

PRAYER 

Let us pray:

Gracious God, we thank you for revealing yourself in that which you have created, and for revealing yourself in persons created in your image, and for revealing yourself in Jesus Christ. Slow us down, Lord, so that we can enjoy the fragrance of your presence along the way. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.

1 (Sydney, Australia) Sunday Telegraph (July 23, 1995), 14.
2 New Revised Standard version used here and throughout.
3 Maltbie D. Babcock, “This Is My Father’s World,” Worship the Lord: Hymnal of the Church of God (Anderson: Warner, 1989), No. 132.

Script 2587 (GWS)
July 28, 1996
SERIES: GETTING ON WITH LIFE
4. “Slowing Down to Smell the Roses”
Scripture: Luke 11:38-42