Richard Foster writes that, “In contemporary society, our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in “muchness” and “manyness”, he will rest satisfied.”

Carl Jung says that “Hurry is not of the devil, hurry is the devil.”

Examples of Jesus “getting away” with God - Mk 1:35, 6:31, 6:47, 14:23; Lk 4:42, 5:16, 6:12).

Hurry Sickness

Meyer Friedman defines hurry sickness as “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.”

Hurry is not just a disordered schedule, hurry is a disordered heart.

There is a difference between being hurried and being busy. Jesus was often very busy, but he was not hurried.

John Ortberg warns that for many of us Christians the greatest danger is not that will fall away from the faith, but that we will be so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it (faith).

Diagnosing Hurry Sickness - Some Symptoms:

• Constantly speeding up daily activities (driving, shopping, etc.) – this stems from the fear that there isn’t enough time to do what needs to be done.
• Multi-tasking – trying to get more than one thing done at a time
• Clutter – the hurry sick lack simplicity (material and internal)
• Superficiality – Foster says that superficiality is the curse of our age. Depth always comes slowly.
• An inability to love – love always takes time and hurried people don’t have time.
• Sunset fatigue – when we are too tired & drained to give love to those who need it most.

Hurry kills love and it prevents us from receiving love from God and from giving love to his children.

What can we do!?!

The first exercise that we can learn that will help to cure us of hurry sickness and help bring us to the place of quiet is the practice of “slowing”.

Slowing – cultivating patience by deliberately choosing to place ourselves in positions where we simply have to wait.

Examples:

• Deliberately drive in the slow lane
• Eat slowly – force yourself to chew your food at least 15 times before each swallow
• At the grocery store pick the longest line to get in it
• Don’t wear a watch for a day

As we practice these, it is important that we be in prayer, telling God that we are trusting him to enable us to accomplish what we need to get done.

For some of us, these practices will not be too difficult. But, for most of us, these will probably take some serious effort and determination. But, we can do it and by practicing these often we can be one step closer to being cured of our hurry sickness and one step closer to living an unhurried life just like Jesus.

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