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The cure for hurry

By DANIEL OVERDORF
Contributing Writer

In the morning we're ready to tackle the day. By evening we feel like the day tackled us. Complaining customers and cranky bosses, ringing phones and rising emotions, ever-expanding to-do lists and ever-decreasing hours in the day. Somebody said life is like walking on a treadmill set two notches faster than we can comfortably walk.

Hurry is a disease; its victims numerous, its symptoms painful, and its prognosis grim.

Many consequences await those who succumb to hurry, not the least of which is the impact hurry has on our relationships. When we're in a hurry, even the most common courtesies get lost in the shuffle of all we have to do today.

A pilot tells about an elderly couple who sat in first class on his airplane. Immediately in front of them sat a frustrated, hurried businessman. All day the elderly couple had gotten in the businessman's way, at the ticket counter, at the gate, while boarding the plane. His emotions exploded when the couple delayed the meal cart by retrieving some medicine out of their bag in the overhead compartment.

Finally the hurried businessman burst out, “What's the matter with you people? I'm amazed you ever get anywhere! Why can't you just stay home?” With that he slammed into his seat and reclined the seat back as hard as he could-so hard that he spilled the elderly gentleman's tray of food all over him and his wife.

An embarrassed flight attendant apologized profusely. The elderly man explained, “This is our 50th wedding anniversary. We're flying for the first time.”

Hoping to salvage some joy from the situation, the flight attendant returned with a bottle of wine. The man popped the cork, offered a toast, then poured the entire bottle over the head of the guy in front of him! The whole cabin cheered.

Perhaps it would take a bottle of wine poured over our heads to wake some of us up. A hurried lifestyle robs us of the most common courtesies.

It even impacts how we deal with our families. One writer described “sunset fatigue.” When we come home in the evening, those who need us the most get our leftovers. We're too tired and preoccupied with our busyness to love the people we claim to love the most.

How can we cure the disease of hurry?

The answer is simple. Implementing it will take some work, but you can do it.

Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” (Matthew 11:28-29).

We find rest in Jesus. Specifically, we find rest in the yoke Jesus offers.

The yoke refers to the wooden harness fastened to an ox, enabling the ox to pull carts or plows. An ill-fitting yoke would cause pressures sores to break out across the ox's back, rendering the animal useless. The wise farmer, therefore, would take great care to fashion a yoke specifically for his ox. The rightly fitted yoke would distribute all the weight evenly across the ox's shoulders, avoiding pressure sores, and enabling the animal to remain healthy and productive for years.

The lesson? God created a particular lifestyle for you (a “yoke”). If you live the life He intends, you will remain healthy and productive. If you attempt to live an ill-fitting life, the pressure will render you useless.

God did not create you to solve every problem, to perform every good deed, or to serve on every committee. He created you to do some things, but not everything.

To cure the disease of hurry, sit down with your Palm Pilot or your to-do list, lay it all out before God, and ask Him, “In the midst of all this stuff I'm doing, where exactly is the life you intend me to live? What needs cut out? What needs redefined or redistributed?” Let God fashion the yoke so that it uniquely fits you.

Then relax. Rest. Enjoy the lifestyle He created for you.