THE ruthless elimination of hurry, that is.
I’ve not kept up with my reading goals in 2020, but I am certainly glad this book made the cut.
John Mark Comer (who I will now refer to as JMC because I’m lazy) has written a witty and digestible reminder for us regarding 4 critical spiritual disciplines for our day: Silence & Solitude (that’s one, not two), Sabbath, Simplicity, and Slowing.
As I began reading, I realized that JMC and I share some love and admiration for some of the same people. John Ortberg (The Life You’ve Always Wanted) and Dallas Willard (Divine Conspiracy, Spirti of the Disciplines, Rennovation of the Heart, Life Without Lack, etc) are two of my favorite Jesus people.
JMC refers to a conversation with Ortberg which referenced a quote from Willard which inspires the thesis of this book: “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”
Not sure how that brief statement strikes you, but I’ve never gotten that message from just about ANYwhere else (except maybe Jesus). American culture especially seems to prize speed and productivity…maximizing one’s pleasure and life experiences…cramming as much as possible into your life. But most of us (whether Christian or otherwise) would probably admit to being stressed, burned out, emotionally exhausted, and not able to enjoy the now.
My recent sabbatical on the Appalachian Trail felt like the first huge step towards a new season of life and relational intimacy with God through prayer and other spiritual disciplines. This book was a great follow-up to that experience…continuing to nudge me in that direction.
The chapter on “Slowing” has a great list of 20 ways to adjust and help slow down your body so you can slow down your life. One of the first changes I’d like to implement is turning off some of the notifications on my phone (email, social media, etc) and scheduling time for those activities instead of letting the dopamine hits bombard me all day long and sap me of the ability to be really present at any given time with my wife, my kids, or students in our ministry.
Good stuff! Challenging Stuff! Check it out for yourself here.
