Easy yokes, light burdens

Do a little test for me. If I ask, “How are you?”, does your standard reply refer to how busy your life is? I know that mine did, until quite recently.

I am currently reading a book which challenges the idea that seems to dominate our 21st -century, consumerist and technology-enabled lifestyles; that busyness is good (and even normal). The book is called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” and was written by American pastor John Mark Comer in 2019.

So far, the passage that has struck me most forcefully is this –

Hurry and love are incompatible. All my worst moments … are when I’m in a hurry – late for an appointment, behind on my unrealistic to-do list, trying to cram too much into my day. I ooze anger, tension, a critical nagging – the antithesis of love.

Now ask yourself: if that is true for me too, what impact is it having on my relationships with those who mean the most to me? If I am living in a hurry, what toll is that taking on my marriage? On my relationship with my children? On my relationships with my colleagues at work? Even on my relationship with God?

Remember, when Jesus was asked to nominate the most important commandment, he said that it was to “Love the LORD your God … and love your neighbour as yourself”.

Conversely, as Carl Jung once said – “Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.”

If hurry and love are incompatible, as Comer suggests, then perhaps it is time for us to slow down (or even stop for a while).