Slowing Down: Discovering the Why Behind Our HurrySample

There is a sickness in our culture today that is having a profound impact on the health of your soul and mine. It lives below the surface, often going unnoticed in everyday life. Although largely invisible to most, the poison that hurry sickness carries with it touches our work, relationships, and even how we view God.

On some level, we have all been infected with the disease of hurry. Our minds race from thought to thought, consuming the flood of information coming at us. Our bodies feel tense as we struggle to keep up with our unrealistic to-do list. And our spirits suffer under the weight of it all, desperately in need of rest.

Meyer Friedman paints a picture of hurry sickness this way, "above all, a continuous struggle and unremitting attempt to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time, frequently in the face of opposition, real or imagined, from other persons."

The result of our constant chasing after more and more of everything is a life of hurry that "misses the way" (See Proverbs 19:2). Truth be told, most of the regrettable decisions I have made resulted from hurry running rampant in my life. Perhaps your life would tell a similar story.

As Jesus apprentices, we know this is no way to live. So, is there a practice from the life of Jesus that can help us take back the ground we have lost to hurry? Enter the discipline of slowing.

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun describes the discipline of slowing this way. "Slowing is a way we counter our culture's mandate to tend to the bottom line, to move it or lose it, to constantly be on the go. It is a way that we honor our limits and the fact that God is found in the present moment. Through slowing we intentionally develop margins in our lives that leave us open to the present moment. Slowing ourselves down doesn't happen automatically. We may need to incorporate some practices that make us conscious of our haste."

This reading plan will explore several practical ways to incorporate slowing into daily life. However, we miss the mark if we only focus on the practical without considering the root cause of the hurry in our lives. We must identify the why behind our hurried existence if we are to find true freedom in this area.

For today, just begin to observe the moments of hurry in your life as you move throughout your week. Don't try to fix them. Don't try to diagnose what is happening. Just become aware of them. Notice how they affect your mind, body, and spirit.