Goodbye Grumpy Mom: Say Hello To Renewed JoySample

HURRY AND BUSY

It’s all too common for one of these phrases to be heard any given moment at my house:  

“Hurry up and put on your shoes!” 

“Hurry up and finish dinner!” 

“Hurry up and get in the car!” 

“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” 

Busy is more than a buzzword. It’s the war of our generation. And the battle cry is “Hurry up!” How else could we possibly get our little troops moving without that phrase?  

If you’ve ever felt like busy is a four-letter word, you’re not alone. I’ve been there too. 

But did you know there’s a difference between busyness and hurry? Our culture would have us believe we can’t feel anything but hurried because life is so busy. But this is a lie we have to reject. It turns out that our souls can be at peace regardless of the pace around us. 

In Soul Keeping, John Ortberg draws a rather freeing contrast between being busy and being hurried. Busy has to do with what’s happening on the outside, while hurry has to do with what’s happening on the inside. The biggest hindrance to peace is not a full calendar or physically demanding tasks but a spirit that is distracted and disconnected from the Lord. 

Our challenge is to stop trying to solve the problem of busyness and identify where we are hurried instead. If we can solve this riddle, we will have peace even in the midst of busy seasons.  

When we recognize that time is something to be enjoyed rather than something to be rationed, it will change the way we see the world. How much more would I enjoy the moment if I weren’t trying to pass it off like a hot potato to the highest bidder? How much more would I enjoy the moment if I saw it as a gift? That might sound cliché, but as I frantically attempt to meet a deadline before my unpredictable napper wakes up, I’m realizing that I miss out when I have a death grip instead of allowing it to flow naturally through my hands and enjoy it as it comes.