by Mark Gambill

 

A driver was pulled over by the police. He was in a hurry and told the officer he had somewhere to be and was late. “I understand, sir,” the officer said. “But I have to ticket anyone over 55.” The driver objected, “But that’s discrimination!” The officer calmly explained, “I meant the speed limit.”

 

I am usually in a hurry. In my Christmas blog, “Waiting for Christmas,” I said I don’t like to wait, mainly because of a lack of patience. Hurry is the companion to “hate to wait.” We think if we can somehow speed things up, we won’t have to wait as long, not realizing that haste creates its own problems.

 

We have all heard the clichés about hurry:

–Hurry up and wait—which came from the military, likely WW II, where army recruits would be ordered through processing only to end up having to wait at some bottleneck.

– Why is there always time to do it over, but never time to do it right?

– Five minutes early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.

– Time is of the essence.

– Let’s get a move on.

– Pick up the pace.

– Chop, chop. We haven’t got all day.

– Kick it into gear.

– Shake a leg.

 

I could go on, but you get the drift, and my bet is most of us have used some type of hurry-up phrase at some point.

 

This past Sunday, our lead pastor, Brad Wilson, began a 6-week teaching series entitled, “Disconnected: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry,” based on a book by John Mark Comer. Comer was inspired for his book title and theme by a quote by the spiritual formation author, Dallas Willard, as expressed to his mentee, John Ortberg: “Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life.” If you missed Brad’s teaching last Sunday, you can check it out here.

 

Hurry Sickness

We move through life so quickly that we fail to make time for the things that are really important in our spiritual lives. Things that are important to God: Worship, prayer, studying his Word, giving of the 3 “T”s: Time, Talent and Treasure, and finding meaningful ways to serve him.

 

Herein lies the rub. We want to get things done expeditiously, move on to the next thing, moving so fast that we don’t miss out on any opportunities. We’ve coined an acronym for this phenomenon: YOLO: “You Only Live Once.”

 

The problem is that hurry can be harmful and, in many cases, destructive and disruptive. It is tantamount to a physical or mental disorder. There is a term for this that Comer uses and has been identified by psychologists and others: “Hurry Sickness.” According to Licensed Professional Counselor, Tati Garcia, hurry sickness is “characterized by chronic rushing and anxiousness and an overwhelming, persistent sense of urgency—even when there’s no need to be moving so fast.” While this behavior pattern may feel productive, it can take a toll on several parts of your life.

 

There are at least ten symptoms of hurry sickness according to Comer, Garcia, and others:

  1. Irritability
  2. Hypersensitivity
  3. Restlessness
  4. Workaholism (or just nonstop activity)
  5. Emotional numbness
  6. Out-of-order priorities
  7. Lack of care for your body
  8. Escapist behaviors
  9. Slippage of spiritual disciplines
  10. Isolation

 

Be honest with yourself. How many of those symptoms are present in your life?

 

Ms. Garcia indicates six signs that you may suffer from hurry sickness:

  1. You treat everything like a race.
  2. You find it impossible to do just one task at a time, so you multitask.
  3. You get highly irritable when encountering a delay.
  4. You feel perpetually behind schedule.
  5. You interrupt or talk over people.
  6. You’re obsessed with checking things off your to-do list.

 

As actor Jeff Daniels pointed out as newscaster Will McAvoy in the series, The Newsroom, “The first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one.” If we are honest with ourselves, I think we will find that many of us have a problem with hurry.

 

The Cure

The good news is that there are some ways we can learn to cope with our hurry sickness. First, remember God is almost never in a hurry. Second Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. . . .” (NIV). The Bible is filled with examples of how God uses a long process to develop character—especially in leaders. He took 80 years to prepare Moses, including 40 in the wilderness. For 14,600 days, Moses kept waiting and wondering, Is it time yet? But God kept saying, “Not yet.”

 

It took 75 years for Noah to build the ark. Jesus Christ spent 30 years preparing for his ministry. Look at the lives of Abraham, Joseph, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Samuel, Samson, David, Paul, and the list goes on. God took his time to get these servants ready to serve.

 

God does not move with great haste, but he is always on time. He will use your entire lifetime to prepare you for your role in eternity. There is one time in Scripture, however, when God is seen as being in a hurry; in fact, running: The prodigal son. The son asked his father for his inheritance, got it, and then went to a distant country and spent it all on wild living. Now destitute, the prodigal decided to go back to his father and become one of his servants. As he approached the house, his father saw him and, filled with compassion, ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him (see Luke 15:19, 20).

 

The Father in this story represents God and we are all the prodigals. Our prayer must be that we never get in such a hurry that we forget God’s forgiveness and the sacrifice of his blameless Son on the cross. We should, however, be in a hurry to save people for eternity.

 

As Brad shared last Sunday, we can learn to:

“Step off life’s treadmill and embrace the unhurried way of Jesus. When life feels chaotic, disconnected, or out of balance, there’s a way to reset and rediscover the peace God intended for you.”

 

Would you join me in my quest to learn to slow down and live with greater purpose?

 

With over 35 years of business experience, Mark Gambill runs the East Region Real Estate Division for Albertsons; has three post-graduate degrees; has taught for over 30 years at various universities; and has been a member of Christ’s Church for over 25 years. He and his wife Karen have two sons, John and Matt, and three dogs, Winnie, Lia, and Tater.