TAKING IT SLOW

"It’s okay to pause and wait and listen and meander."

by Hannah Brencher

A few years ago, Lane and a few friends of ours slipped away to a mountain cabin for a few days where sleep, trivia games, true crime documentaries, and cozy dinners in the North Georgia Mountains were the only things on the agenda.

We were off the grid and recharging our batteries.

 Waking up that first morning in the cabin, I lazily poured myself a cup of coffee and heaped some eggs and bacon onto a plate.

Within that first bite of eggs, I could tell these eggs were some of the best eggs of my entire existence. And let me tell you, I eat a lot of eggs.

“Hoke, what did you do to make these eggs so amazing?” I asked. They were cheesy and fluffy, with the perfect, creamy texture.

 “Nothing really,” he said. “I just cooked them slowly.”

 I’d seen him do this before. He stood by the stove for a solid 25 minutes, patiently stirring the eggs as they cooked on low. The process felt tedious as I watched it, but I now had firsthand evidence that the end result was glorious—something to behold.

I’ll admit I’m not the most patient person in the world. Most of my prayers involve a petition for more patience. At that point in my life, I was used to operating at a fast pace. 

An occasion like breakfast was not necessarily what I wanted to spend my time on. I’d crank up the heat on our stove and cook the morning eggs in five minutes or less. And, as far as I could tell, the eggs were pretty good.

But it wasn’t until I had the slow eggs that I realized I was missing out on something entirely better...read more