One Powerful Truth for Power-Walkers and Speed-Bakers: Direction Is Greater Than Pace

An ice-crusted sidewalk will teach you that slow progress is sometimes better than getting there fast. So will slow-melting butter and marshmallows to copy-cat Starbucks’ Rice Krispie bars.

I’m a slow learner, though. I grew up “speed cooking,” as my mom called it. Watch me mix muffins from scratch and bake them in 25 minutes flat. (The oven temperature is just a recommended guideline, right?!) Keep up as I power-walk through campus to not be late for my first class.

I’m one hundred percent Enneagram nine until it’s time to get the kids fed and out of the door for school. Then I have laser focus and you’d better stay out of my way. My husband won’t disagree.

What about you? Do you embrace slow living with grace or chide yourself for taking too long? What do you tell yourself when everyone else is ahead and you’re barely making progress?

Shame can sound like an observation, but the voice is not neutral. It picks at our faults until they fester. Tells us we’re not good enough. Not cut out for this. Not going to make it.

Go faster, shame will say. Try harder. Work smarter.

But we’re exhausted and spitting mud from our tires. Those lines between the brows show it.

Who else needs permission to stop running and pay more attention to where we’re going?

The direction matters more than the pace

The direction is far more important than the pace, and I’ll keep saying it because I need to remember it too. Better to set the trajectory than careen off course. Trust that God’s up to something good—in you, your family, your neighborhood—even when the fruit isn’t visible yet.

Missional neighboring is a little like sourdough. When the starter is in its most active state you can watch bubbles push their way upwards and pop at the surface. Most of the time, though, the bubbles look the same. You’d have to get good and comfortable if you want to catch movement.

But as faith-filled ripple-starters, we care more about spreading hope and showing grace than the timeline of the harvest. We trust that God is a wise farmer who tends the seeds we plant. We leave the growth up to Him and keep showing up. Letting the work God does inside us rub off on the people near us.

What matters is being a disciple who makes disciple-making disciples. How many and how soon are not our concern. Let’s leave God’s business up to Him and be joyful seed planters everywhere we go.

A manifesto to set the direction

Let’s get really clear on where we’re heading. It’s been a while since I mentioned The Uncommon Normal manifesto, so this is especially for you if you’re new around here.

The manifesto is a direction-setter. A travel companion. An invitation to mission.

It’s not about controlling the results or making the conclusion happen faster.

It’s about slow growth and intentional living. Letting go and living open.

Take a listen:

We posture our hearts like an open door, welcoming our neighbors into our hearts, homes, and lives.

We let the things God is doing in our own lives ripple out beyond us.

We cultivate lives worth imitating through a rhythm of spending time daily with God.

We live from the overflow of grateful hearts.

We don’t push our words ahead of our actions.

We are humble, honest, and interruptible.

We take notice of those around us.

We create margin in our schedules for doing life with our neighbors.

We know the direction is more important than the pace, so we keep taking baby steps even when we feel imperfectly ready.

We are nurturing, one rhythm at a time, an uncommon normal.

If you need a visual guidepost to remind you of the direction you’re going, grab a printable of the manifesto. Stick it on your fridge, vision board, or wall. Read it often.

What comes next?

A missional lifestyle is slowly formed and carefully nurtured. Because what’s inside our hearts always shows, this is where we begin.

A missional lifestyle is slowly formed and carefully nurtured_Twyla Franz quote for The Uncommon Normal

Trading lies we’ve believed—like God can’t use me, I don’t need people, and I have to stay in good standing with God—for the truth that God uses ordinary people to share His love in natural, everyday ways.

A missional lifestyle means cultivating rhythms that keep our hearts soft and our eyes open. Getting close to Jesus. Inviting others in close enough to overhear the conversations we’re having with God.

But how do you know where to begin?

I’ll share three resources that will help you lean, slow and steady, into missional neighboring.

The Field Guide to Neighborhood Missional Living is in the resource library and you can download it free. This will give you a few clear and tangible steps to get you started.

Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. Walk with me for a month and see how simple and doable it is to begin getting to know your neighbors and living on mission right where you live. Download a sample of my devotional from the resource library, and if you want the rest, it’s just a few dollars on Amazon.

Get the 30-Day Missional Living Challenge FREE when you purchase Cultivating a Missional Life. To help you get the most out of the devotional, the bonus challenge is tailored to fit your unique style of neighboring. Three variations of the challenge are included in your download. You’ll begin with the “What Kind of Neighbor Are You?” quiz to determine which challenge to take. Then print the challenge checklist and complete it as you read Cultivating a Missional Life.