There is this sickness. It’s called hurry-sickness. Most of us are infected; I know I often am. The symptoms look like this: a nagging sense that there’s never enough time, a lack of meaning or depth or joy in life, a lack of compassion, a lack of grace. Have you experienced any of these? Our brains actually release more adrenaline into our bodies when we’re in a hurry and so we feel more stress, and then we get angry, or impatient with ourselves and with others. We stop experiencing grace, and we lack grace.
Here is the thing. Jesus was never in a hurry. Jesus was busy, he had demands on his time, he had many pressures, and there was stress and plenty to do, but he was never in a hurry. There are many times when we read about Jesus withdrawing from the crowds, going off to be alone. If you look at the life of Christ, you see he would get up early and spend time alone in prayer. He would sometimes wait when others felt the need to rush. He had the courage to say no even to urgent requests.
And this Jesus says to you and me, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”
That is Jesus’ yoke. That’s his rhythm of life. And we have to learn to walk in step with Him.
So, here is what I want you to do. I want you to say, “I quit. I quit hurrying. I quit pretending all is fine with this constant rushing inside that is killing my soul.” Instead, I want you to set a time each day – just 10 minutes – to practice slowing. One of the best ways to combat a habit of speeding up is to introduce a habit of slowing down.
Set the timer, just 10 minutes each day. Stop whatever you’re doing. Just stop. Close your email, turn off your phone, remove all distractions and just sit in silence. Slow down your breathing and just do nothing. The point is not to have some spiritual epiphany; the point is simply to allow your body to experience unhurried time. Our bodies need to experience unhurried time.
Sometimes, in those tiny moments we become aware of things we have forgotten or just lost sight of in the midst of all our running. We loose sight of things that matter, things like this: God really cares about you. He really cares about your life. Actually, you are not alone, you are never, ever alone. In whatever you are facing today, God is with you and will continue to walk with you through whatever Goliath-situation you might be facing.
Susie Grade 