Slow Down

These days, we all spend most of our lives racing to get things done faster than someone else as if there were some reward waiting for us if we were to do so.

I, myself, am always rushing the clock to get to work, beat the traffic and grab the first cup of coffee before anyone else even arrives.

Just this morning, I wanted to get to the Sunrise on time. I was walking the dog impatiently, constantly telling her to “hurry-up!” She peed, she pooed and then dragged me further to pee again. Again, I was arguing with her to hurry it up! Walking to fast to get back to the elevator… I stepped in it!

Searching through my Bible…

Ephesians 5:15-16 – Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

While browsing the Internet, I came across an article on the Internet about a real problem that is afflicting most people in the 21st century. It is called “Hurry Sickness”. Hurry sickness, first diagnosed in the late 1950s, has reached epidemic proportions. So I thought this would be a good topic for this week’s message.

We are constantly looking at our watches and saying, “Just look at the time! I’m going to be late.”

We hate waiting. At the Post Office, we sigh impatiently as a customer up front is taking forever.

We hate waiting at traffic lights – as we approach the red light we look to see what kind of vehicles are already stopped – if there is a truck or an older looking car in one lane we pull into the other because we want a quick getaway.

At the supermarket, if you have a choice between two check-out lines, you note the number of people in each line and multiply this number by the number of items per cart. If you are still standing waiting to be served and the people in the other lane get away before you do, you feel annoyed.

Encarta – Dictionary – “Hurry Sickness is defined as a “modern malady caused by rushing about: a compulsion to do everything quickly, or a chronic feeling of being short of time, attributed to the fast pace of modern life and causing symptoms such as anxiety and insomnia.”.

The interesting thing about “Hurry Sickness” is that those who don’t know they have it, think that other people who have not contracted “Hurry Sickness” are lazy.

I came across this poem (author unknown) that reminds us that our poor use of time can cause us to miss out on some of life’s great moments. It is entitled “To my grown up son”.

My hands were busy through the day
I didn’t have much time to play
The little games you asked me to.
I didn’t have much time for you.

I’d wash your clothes, I’d sew and cook,
But when you’d bring your picture book
And ask me please to share your fun,
I’d say: “A little later, son.”

I’d tuck you in all safe at night
And hear your prayers, turn out the light,
Then tiptoe softly to the door…
I wish I’d stayed a minute more.

For life is short, the years rush past…
A little boy grows up so fast.
No longer is he at your side,
His precious secrets to confide.

The picture books are put away,
There are no longer games to play,
No good-night kiss, no prayers to hear,
That all belongs to yesteryear.

My hands, once busy, now are still.
The days are long and hard to fill.
I wish I could go back and do
The little things you asked me to.

I’m sure we can relate to this mother’s regret in some way. We have been too busy or too preoccupied to make the most of the opportunities that have come our way whether it is those precious moments with our children,
wasted time at school, missed opportunities to spend with the people we love, or too busy to take a moment and make a difference in someone’s life.

The fault doesn’t lie with time itself. We do have the time. God gives us all the time that we need to do everything that is important. Time is a gift from God. He gives us the time to enjoy ourselves. God gives us time to work, to worship, to pray, to spend with our families, to serve and help others, to witness to others about Jesus before time runs out.

Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes 3:1 – says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” – and re-quoted by the Byrds, by the way, in Turn, Turn, Turn

God gives us adequate time to do everything that is important. God didn’t make a mistake at creation by making the days too short.

In Ephesians 2:10 – we read that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works”

…and you can bet that he has also provided the time we need to do them.

When we haven’t got time for the important things, then you can be sure that we haven’t managed the time God has given us very well.

We could add that as far as God is concerned it is a waste of time pursuing the things of this world when there is someone who needs our love and attention (remember the poem about the mother who regretted not spending more time with her son). It is bad management of our time when we don’t have time to spend with God in prayer, reading his Word, coming to worship and Holy Communion.

It is poor management of our time when we are so busy filling every moment of every day to the detriment of another of God’s gifts, our bodies. We’re stressed; we feel it in our asthmatic lungs, our aching backs, our tense shoulders, our memory depleted brains suffering from information overload because we have succumbed to Hurry Sickness.

James 4:13-14 – “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.” Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.”

James is saying that we shouldn’t presume that we would have a tomorrow to do the good we had intended to do today.

All of the hurt we have caused others because we have been too busy, all of harm we have done to ourselves because we have failed to slow down, let go of some of the less important things and tried to cram too much into our daily lives, all the times we have given other things priority over spending time with God and doing the work Jesus has given us to do in the church and in our personal lives, all these were nailed with Jesus onto the cross.

Jesus is the great Healer of our Hurry Sickness. He says to us…

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”