Last Wednesday, my wife and I were in a bit of a hurry to get to work. Pamela is a therapist and was heading to her office to meet with a client, and I was rushing out the door for an early meeting. We hugged, said our "I love you's" and got into our separate cars. Our garage is a little too narrow for two cars to exit at the same time, so I gave her the nod as if to say "ladies first." For lack of patience, I waited for what must have been a millisecond and quickly decided that she didn't appear to be ready, so I'd just go first. BIG mistake.
I put the car in reverse and looked over my right shoulder in order to avoid hitting my son's car in the driveway. While I was exiting, my wife looked over her opposite shoulder, as she normally does, and began to back out. But wait, it gets better! We happen to live right across the street from a high school. At this time of day, busses are lined up on our street, waiting to turn into the parking lot where they drop off hundreds of students. Not only did my wife and I have a bumper-to-bumper collision in our own driveway, but we had an audience of what felt like a million teenagers to witness our infraction.
I felt like a moron. Luckily, no one was injured, except our rear fenders and my pride.
Have you ever had one of those moments?
In hindsight, the only reason our incident took place was because we were in a rush and had a bit of tunnel vision. In this instance, we were in a hurry and forgot to look over the correct shoulder, causing a minor accident. Imagine if the same could be said about our spiritual lives. It makes me wonder how many times in a given week have I been too busy to pay attention to what God is trying to do in my life or the world around me.
I find myself resonating with Jesus' disciple, Matthew. He was greatly impacted by Jesus and quotes a memorable teaching from him in Matthew 11:28-30: "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, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
How about you? Do you feel weary or burdened? Has life thrown more at you than you can handle, or are you running at a pace that allows for very little margin?
Imagine for a second how God created us to have moments together so that he could speak tenderly to our souls. Imagine if Jesus wanted to guide you in a specific decision or action and that he was patiently waiting for you to slow down long enough to listen. He wants us to feel His love and care, yet we are often too busy and we miss out. We might miss the purpose of our entire day (or life) when we choose not to engage in our relationship with our Creator! I am not talking about an obligation to spend time with God; it goes way beyond obligation. Our souls were made to connect closely to Him on a very regular basis, relationally.
One of my favorite authors and Christian thinkers is Dallas Willard. He said "Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." That statement gets me every time I read it.
I understand that we all have responsibilities with work, home, and life. I also know that the Christmas season can get very hurried all too quickly. Yet, we have a decision to make. How do we become people who ruthlessly eliminate hurry so that we can spend time with God?
When I hurry through life, I do damage to more than my family's automobiles; I often hurt those I care about the most. When I make room for my Savior, I find myself caring more about Him and the people who He loves.
