What's your hurry?

By Daniel Overdorf
Pastor

On an episode of the old Andy Griffith show, a visiting preacher issued a seemingly simple challenge to the Mayberry crowd: “What’s your hurry? Slow down. Learn to rest and relax.”

That afternoon, following one of Aunt Bee’s scrumptious Sunday dinners, Andy and the gang sat on the front porch and discussed the sermon. They reminisced of days when life wasn’t so hurried. They recalled lazy Sunday afternoons in the park listening to the town band.

Somebody spoke up, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get the band playing again?” The question sent the cogs into motion. Andy gathered the band members to start practicing. Aunt Bee phoned Clara to help spruce up the old band uniforms. Barney remembered where the old stage had been discarded. Goober volunteered to repair it. And, well, as Aunt Bee exclaimed, “We’re going to have a band concert…tonight!”

In typical 1950s sitcom fashion, the stage, uniforms, and band were well beyond repair, leaving the gang at their wit’s end by day’s end. After a day of bickering and frustration they slumped into their seats, having returned to the front porch. Then it hit them: So much for slowing down, huh?

I can identify. I imagine you can, too. At wit’s end by day’s end. Frazzled. Frustrated. Fatigued.

It’s like the mother who said, “I’m so tired, my idea of vacation is a trip to the dentist. I just can’t wait to sit in that chair and relax.”

How can we heed the challenge issued by the Mayberry preacher? Where can we find time to catch our breath in the midst of such a fast paced life? I’d like to offer a few suggestions.

First, begin and end each day with prayer. In the morning, pray over the day’s schedule — meetings, tasks, conversations. Place these in God’s hands. In the evening, review the day with God. Ask what He’d like you to learn from the day’s events, then give Him all your anxieties and worries (as the old saying goes, He’ll be up all night anyway!).

Second, take three or four “minute retreats” each day. While standing in line at the grocery store, waiting at a traffic light, or simply when you’re between tasks, take a deep breath. Relax your shoulder muscles. Clear your mind of the day’s to-do list. Even if just for a minute, retreat from busyness.

Third, follow God’s pattern of work and rest. God created the world in six days; on the seventh He rested. The Bible explains God established this pattern as an example to us.

Lee Iacocca once said, “Over the years, I’ve had many executives come to me and say with pride, ‘Boy, last year I worked so hard that I didn’t take any vacation.’ It’s actually nothing to be proud of. I always feel like responding, ‘You dummy. You mean to tell me that you can take responsibility for an $80 million project, and you can’t plan two weeks out of the year to go off with your family and have some fun?’”

Take pride not in workaholism (at one extreme), nor laziness (at the other extreme), but in following God’s pattern of diligent work followed by delightful rest.

Finally, concede the governance of the universe to the One who really governs it. Much of our hurry stems from a cleverly hidden streak of arrogance. “If I don’t get all this done — today — the world will stop turning.” Though our tasks carry various degrees of importance, the earth spinning on its axis has little to do with our completing our to-do lists.

Philip Malanchton once told his friend Martin Luther, "Martin, this day we will discuss the governance of the universe;" to which Luther replied, "This day, you and I will go fishing and leave the governance of the universe to God."

Andy and Barn’ never quite figured it out; I pray you will.

Daniel Overdorf is the senior minister of Fayetteville Christian Church, located at New Hope and Hickory Roads in Fayetteville. He may be heard each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as a part of the church's weekly worship. Daniel may be contacted at the church office--770-461-8763, or at fayettevillechristian@juno.com.