Slow Down

“Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day.”
-Dallas Willard

Have you ever been pulled over for speeding?

I remember a few days after our wedding, my wife and I were headed to our first home after our honeymoon. We were in separate vehicles, stuffed full of our belongings. Ecstatic to be married. Excited for the future.

In our excitement to get to our first home, we may or may not have been driving at a speed that, possibly, could have been above the limit.

No judgement please.

I remember seeing the police car drive by us going the opposite direction, and I thought we just might be ok.

But then, blue lights. You know that feeling.

The officer sped past me, and got behind my wife’s vehicle to pull her over. I stopped further back to wait and see what would happen. I might have been laughing a little. You know, what supportive husbands do.

It wasn’t long though, until the officer motioned for me to drive up closer. I pulled up a little, and watched as the officer walked up to my window. He began to explain to me that, although my wife was speeding, I was actually driving faster than she was. And that I would be getting the ticket today.

Seriously?

I still can’t believe it to this day.

The good news is, neither one of us received a ticket that day. And we are truly grateful for that. But I remember that day thinking, “How was I going faster than my wife?” The answer: I was trying to keep up with her. 

Does that sound familiar? Trying to keep up.

In today’s culture, it’s a way of life. Keep up. Do more. Get more. It’s the mantra of the exhausted.

Because let’s be honest, keeping up is exhausting. And maybe we could stop and ask ourselves? Who are we keeping up with? And, truthfully, the more important question is: Why are we trying to keep up?

Keeping up is the reason so many of us run at such a frantic pace. Because of the constant barrage of information we deal with each day of our lives, we feel the weight, and the pull, to keep up. If I see you doing it, I must need to try. If that family went there, I have to go. If I see that guy with those shoes, I have to have them. You know the feeling. You have felt the pull. The pull to keep up. And that pull, regardless of how subtle it may be, is a driving force behind our addiction to hurry.

We go fast, so we can do more. But at the end of the day, when the dust from our hurried lives settles, many of us find we have been in a hurry to go nowhere.

Yes, we may go places. But is that really all there is to life? Places. Positions. Promotions. More stuff. More things to fill our schedules.

When can we all get honest with ourselves and admit, "I have limits."

We can't keep up the hurried pace. We can't fill our schedules full, and keep wondering where the time goes. We can't say "yes" to everything and everyone. The hurry is slowly killing us. Keeping up just isn't working.

So how do we slow down? How do we live an abundant and unhurried life, apart from an abundant and hurried schedule?

Be Honest
Be honest with yourself that you are a human being with limits. Yes, you were formed by God, in His image, which means you have abundant potential. But God formed you out of dust, which means you have limits. There is only so much you can do, and only so many people you can please. Be honest with yourself that you can't do it all. And that's ok.

Say No
Can I set you free for a moment? It's ok to say "no." It's actually quite freeing. Don't be afraid to budget your time. Give yourself, and your family, margin. Free space. Time unoccupied. Not every hour needs to be filled. A life without margin is a life lived in hurry. Constantly going from one thing to the next, trying to keep up, but never measuring up. Saying "no" means taking authority over your life, and your time.

Sabbath
This one I hold dear, now more than ever. The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat, meaning "to cease, and rest." A Sabbath is a set aside time where you intentionally stop. No producing. No running. No keeping up. A holy pause in which you find your true fulfillment and contentment in Jesus. Honoring the Sabbath is the fourth of the ten commandments in the Word of God. Yet, ironically, it's the commandment we feel no remorse for breaking. Of course we wouldn't steal from our neighbor. And we definitely wouldn't cheat on our spouse. But each and every week, we say "no" to stopping, and "yes" to keeping up. A Sabbath is a time where we delight in God and in all that He has blessed us with. A time where we intentionally pause to tell the world, and most importantly, our souls, that God is God, and we are not.

So here's some actionable steps we can take together. Over the next week, let's make the decision to:

1. Be honest with ourselves about our limits.
2. Say no to something that is removing margin from our lives.
3. Take an intentional day to rest. To cease to strive and keep up. To say no to hurry. To slow down and delight in the precious presence of Jesus.

Hurry does not have to be your way of life. Keeping up does not have to be your pace. Slow down. Take a deep breath. Walk in His love. Delight in His Presence.