“All too often our hurry is a sign of something else.”

A thought by John Mark Comer from his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (p. 55). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Let’s see what John says.

He says, “Something deeper. Usually that we’re running away from something—father wounds, childhood trauma, last names, deep insecurity or deficits of self-worth, fear of failure, pathological inability to accept the limitations of our humanity, or simply boredom with the mundanity of middle life.

“Or we’re running to something—promotions or purchases or experiences or stamps on our passports or the next high—searching in vain for something no earthly experience has on offer: a sense of self-worth and love and acceptance. In the meritocracy of the West, it’s easy to feel like we’re only as good as our next sales commissions or quarterly reports or music singles or sermons or Instagram posts or new toys. So, we’re constantly out of breath, chasing the ever-elusive wind.”

He goes on, “Sometimes our hurry is less dramatic: we’re just overbusy, more victims of the rights and responsibilities of the modern world than perpetrators of escapism. But either way, the effect is the same. It’s what William Irvine called ‘misliving.’ In his book A Guide to the Good Life, he wrote:

“There is a danger that you will mislive—that despite all your activity, despite all the pleasant diversions you might have enjoyed while alive, you will end up living a bad life. There is, in other words, a danger that when you are on your deathbed, you will look back and realize that you wasted your one chance at living. Instead of spending your life pursuing something genuinely valuable, you squandered it because you allowed yourself to be distracted by the various baubles life has to offer.”

“Cue the haunting line from Jesus of Nazareth: ‘What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?’ (Mark 8:36)”

Maybe we need to take some time and see what the reason is in our life for our hurry.  So would you do that long enough to ask yourself, why am I in such a hurry?  Would you?  

Yes, yes!