Do you ever just want to slow down? Who sold us the bill of goods that busy is to be glorified? Or cool? I’m the fool who bought into the idea when it wasn’t even on sale.
Once, when shopping with a friend, she found a designer necklace she had been wanting, for 50% off. Over the next thirty minutes, she hemmed and hawed on whether to purchase it or not. Did she love it or just like it? We all helped her with the pros and cons of this big purchase, the main pro being that it was currently discounted. The sales lady came over and apologized for the incorrect signage on this cabinet of jewelry, the necklace was actually not on sale, it was full price. I figured this new info would be the decision maker for my friend, and indeed it was.
“I’ll take it!”, she exclaimed.
Which is exactly what I did when I stumbled across the big, beautiful, perfectly lit display of “BUSY!”. I knew it wasn’t a good deal and yet I raced to the checkout counter with full price payment in hand. “I’ll take it!”
Oh, the marketing tricks that have fooled us. We are living with calendars packed to the edges, which is fine as long as we don’t change the posture of our heart to reflect our schedule. Living with “busy” as the posture of your heart is exhausting. And eventually, it will break us. I want to be productive, without the busy. Which requires paying attention to priorities.
I have this precious, handsome fellow who sleeps beside me every night, his name is Ryder Jean. Ryder, the best-dog-in-the-world, likes to get up in the middle of the night for a backyard stroll, I highly suspect that he doesn’t even need to potty – it’s just his nightly patrol. He has me trained well to wait for him, and then we can go back to bed when all has proven to be safe.
One night recently, while waiting for Ryder to check the fences, I noticed my calendar opened on the bar. I walked over and got to work on my list of things that needed to be done. Then started another list of home improvements, a list of work to-do’s and thank you notes that needed to be sent. I got completely engrossed in being busy that I forgot it was 2 a.m. and I needed to be sleeping. I had been there for exactly 24 minutes working on my calendar and lists before an irritated Ryder Jean barked at the back door to snap me out of my busy daze.
I have let busy steal so much of my peace. In a favorite Mike Ryan song he sings, “Time is a river that only runs one way.” Time is fleeting, the river is running at full speed, and I don’t want to miss anything. This feeling causes the wheels of busy to start rolling in my chest and head. When truly, my only FOMO (fear of missing out) is missing life experiences with my people. However, sometimes my judgement of what is a priority has caused me to lose lots of precious moments.
Research shows that even two seconds is too long for us to wait for a search engine. Two seconds. We have conditioned ourselves to essentially live at the pace of machines. Machines can’t decipher priorities or experience joy, they just know how to churn.
In my kitchen sits a stone that preaches Psalm 23 to me daily, “He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul” It calls me to trust it. To trust God enough to follow His footsteps to the quiet waters. Having a busy heart has never left me feeling full or satisfied. I personally can’t hear through the noise and I feel as though I suffocate in chaos. Busy leaves me on empty.
It is in the stillness I can hear. It is in the quiet I am restored. Oh, to be silent enough to hear our needs, to hear our lives changing, and yet be still enough for our hearts to grow.
Stillness is where we can gain understanding of our journey, or at least the next step. Stillness is such an adventure. May we follow Him to the quiet waters. Set down the busy my friend – close the calendar, rest and allow Him to restore your soul.
Then we can get up and be more productive.
