Page 24 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 1_2023

Food for Thought

IT'S KEEPING UP

BY PETER STOFFBERG

e’ve just passed the half-way mark of the
first quarter of the year. It seems that
Wlife is getting faster by the day. If you’re
feeling rushed and you’re struggling to keep up, here’s
something that may help calm things down. It’s all to
do with what we think about. Thinking about some
things sends our nervous systems into a speed wobble,
but other things can restore calm. Strange as it may
seem, one way to slow down, is to think about speed,
serious, ridiculous levels of speed.
It may sound contradictory but it’s all about
perspective. Take for example how mountains make
us feel insignificant and yet peaceful. Swimming with
gigantic, gentle creatures like whale sharks has a similar
effect. Once the shock of their sheer size wears off, fear
is replaced by a strange sense of comfort. Huge things
make us feel really small, but curiously safe. Before
considering an explanation, lets try it out.

The earth is moving constantly – but did you know
what speed we’re moving at? The earth is spinning at
a rate of around 1600 kph. That is fast, but we’re not
just spinning around, we’re moving around the sun,
completing a lap every year at more than 100 000 kph.
Perhaps you knew that, but there’s more. Our sun, and ON SITE SUNDAY SERVICES @ 9h30
everything else in our solar system, is winding it’s way www.familychurch.online
around the galaxy at an estimated 720 000 kph. At the DAINFERN COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
speed of our solar system alone, we travel almost 6
million kilometres during an average night’s sleep. It’s
probably best to take a moment to let that sink in - it it’s not us. We don’t feel the movement, and we never
should make us feel small, and slow. Then take a step even have to give it a thought.
back and let perspective set in.
In Psalm 46, in the Bible, God tells His people to “be
The pace at which we rush around in our daily lives still and know that I Am God”. The word translated “be
is nothing compared to the rate at which we’re being still” carries the meaning of letting go and giving up. It
swept around the galaxy. Every moment, whether we’re doesn’t mean we should give up our efforts at doing
sleeping or awake, someone is controlling things at a our best, it means giving up trying to be God. Accepting
frightening scale, and at an extraordinary speed – and our human limitations, helps us to rest under the
knowledge of God’s power and supremacy. If God keeps
our solar system together, and moving faster than we
can imagine, He can keep our lives together and moving
towards the outcome He’s planned for us. Relax, trust
Him and enjoy the ride.

22 DPL issue 1 2023