Christian Artist Nichole Nordeman on What It Means to 'Slow Down'

If you're like most parents, you believe your children are growing up way too fast. 

Christian artist Nichole Nordeman's latest single, "Slow Down," tenderly echoes that sentiment, and it's connecting with millions. 

"Recording the song was sort of accidental," Nordeman told CBN News. "I wrote it for my son's sixth grade graduation last year. The school -- he goes to a small Christian school, and they had asked me to sing something at the ceremony."

"Before I knew it, I had pulled out baby pictures and kindergarten memorabilia and was just kind of having a mini-meltdown at my piano about how quickly he's growing and how hard it is to slow down time and to really be present, and just every parent's cry, which is just, 'Stop growing up so fast,'" she reflected.

Listen to CBN News' entire interview with Christian artist Nichole Nordeman by clicking the player above.

"So before I knew it, this song kind of just spilled out of me, and then I sang it the next morning at the graduation," she shared. "So I didn't have any intention to record it or do a video or any of it. It kind of just connected and took on a life of its own."

She speaks the truth. In fact, the video for "Slow Down" went viral -- 14 million views in five days. It's reached around 21 million people on Facebook alone.

Nordeman hopes listeners absorb the importance of living in the moment when they hear the song.

"We can't slow down time; we can't build a time machine and go back when our kids were babies," she told CBN News. "I think the answer for me honestly is just living more present, just being more intentional about slowing myself down."

"So that I am not, as a mom who is an artist and has a million balls in the air like so many of us do, so I'm not like missing really special, small wonderful moments with my kids because I'm so focused on the check list and the things that have to get done, the deadlines," she said.

"So I think really for me it's just slowing me down so that I don't miss any of the moments that make their childhood so special," she continued.

Nordeman says she also views the song as the Lord telling her to slow down.

"Our lives just get too busy, and they're too full, and I think so often, God wants to get our attention and ask us to be more present in relationship with Him, too, so that we don't do the same things that we do with our kids -- just rush, rush, rush; do the next, next, next thing," she shared.

"And we just miss moments that are simple and quiet, and just even the small whispers of Jesus I think are so easy to drown out in the chaos of life," she said.

Nordeman has been writing songs for nearly 20 years. Her next adventure on the road is the Belong Tour. Beginning in August, she, along with other Christian leaders, will encourage women to live enjoyable, faith-filled, and meaningful lives.  

"We're just coming to cities and arenas and wanting to gather with a big roomful of girlfriends and just talk about real stuff," she told CBN News. "I used to be a person that would hear about a women's conference and run the other direction because it just always felt like it was going to be an event where I was going to walk away feeling inadequate about more stuff in my life -- how I should be a better Christian, or a better mom."

"But I think this conference just feels like we want to encourage women of all ages and of all walks of life," she continued. "Just to come and know that they are so loved by the Lord, and they were created so uniquely and so gifted uniquely."

Sharing her musical giftings with others is a dream come true for Nordeman. 

"I am living a dream in the sense that I wake up every morning and pinch myself that I get to do what I love to do, which is make music," she shared. "I have a very regular life like a lot of people. I'm talking to you today on the phone, having just moved into a new house, and I have not showered in two days, and I'm in my most disastrous pair of sweat pants."

"So I do not have a glamorous life," she chuckled. "I have a real life, but I have a really blessed life, and I feel incredibly, incredibly thankful to get to make music."

That music is making an impact. She's had four No. 1 and seven top 5 singles. In addition, the singer/songwriter has garnered nine Dove Award wins, including Female Vocalist of the Year in 2001 and 2006.

But how does Nichole Nordeman, the person, want to be remembered? 

"I think I just want people to say that I loved people well," she said. "I think at the end of my life I want people who knew me for five minutes or for 50 years to feel like, more often than not, that they experienced the love of Jesus for having encountered me for a brief time."

"I'm less concerned about hit songs and viral videos and what colleges my kids get into and any of that stuff," she added. "To me... it's a life well-lived, just about loving people well through the arms of Jesus."