Ruthlessly Eliminating Hurry — and You Should Too
Like most Americans, I would consider myself a very busy person. The days seem to be a never-ending cycle of overwhelm and exhaustion when highly productive and deep disappointment when I’m not so productive. That was until I read the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer at the recommendation of close friends who knew I needed help to “balance it all.” Imagine my surprise when my expectation for productivity advice was met with a message that simply confirmed what I felt the Lord had been telling me for months. The answer to a hurried life is not balance — it is to do less. But Comer went much deeper to the root of why we should do less — to become like Jesus. He also gave practical wisdom for how we can go about eliminating hurriedness in a western society of individuals who pride themselves on how busy they are. Spoiler alert: the answer to this is also to become like Jesus.
Honestly, this book was exactly what my soul needed to hear in this season.
In modeling my life after that of Jesus Christ as Comer recommended, the answer to my question of how to balance it all became clear: arrange my life around 4 core principles that Jesus modeled in His own life and be relentless about sticking to that arrangement. These core principles are Silence and Solitude, Sabbath, Simplicity, and Slowness.
The first thing we often sacrifice in the busiest seasons of life is our time of silence and solitude where we just sit and listen to God’s voice, meditate on His word and worship Him. What we are neglecting is the secret place but the reality is that this is the very place from which we draw strength to be able to do all that God has called us to. It is also where we receive peace, joy, humility, and every other virtue needed to function as Christ-like beings. In the life of Jesus, we see Him frequently retreat to a moment of silence and solitude so He could pray and commune with His Father. Without time in the secret place, it makes sense that the hurried life leaves most feeling burned out, stressed, anxious, and angry. We’re trying to do more than what God wants us to do with less of His help than He intended. The proper approach for every believer is to prioritize silence and solitude - arranging our lives in such a way that this time happens regularly, no matter what it takes.
Another essential practice for living a less hurried life is observing a weekly Sabbath. In doing so, we force our bodies into a rhythm of rest which includes a weekly 24 hour period that is reserved for resting and spending time with God. This weekly sabbath is a reminder to us that we are not our own providers or caretakers. Instead, the Lord provides our needs and He continues to do so even if we take 1 day off a week to rest. After all, if the Almighty, All-Powerful God rested on the 7th day after creating the earth and everything in it then surely we don’t think we can labor for 7 days a week and just be fine. If God rested then we, mere humans - weak, finite, and mortal — certainly need rest. Of course, this rest doesn’t have to look like bed-rotting for 24 hours — unless that’s what you need. The only rule for this sabbath period is that you don’t do anything that you consider as labor. Instead, you spend the time doing what would help you relax and recharge. This can look like spending time with God, brunch with friends, or reading that leisure read that’s been on your TBR for months. I sometimes go a bit rogue and use the time to work on personal passion projects as well but it doesn’t feel like labor so I think it gets a pass. Do with that information what you will lol.
But why do we hurry? Many of us give ourselves very honorable-sounding reasons to convince ourselves that we need to do so much but if we really dig deep, and I mean very deep, we’ll find the reason for hurry and busyness is often because we want more. We want more money, more love, more material goods, more (insert here) because at the core of our belief is the idea that the more we have, the happier we will be. Comer refers to this as the gospel of America and its one that permeates the hearts and minds of most — especially those in the western world. As a post-grad living in New York City - one of the most expensive cities in the world - this is a gospel that I know all too well. Witnessing large displays of wealth on a regular basis can be a constant reminder of what I don’t have and inspire a sense of urgency to acquire more. To combat this phenomenon, Comer encourages the practice of simplicity by removing excess items from our lives and learning to be content with what we already have. I resonate with this quite deeply because in all my acquiring of material goods and worldly accolades, I’ve learned an interesting truth: it will never be enough. No amount of stuff will make me happy. No amount of accomplishments will make people love me more and no amount of money will satisfy me. There is a constant desire in me for more that can only really be satisfied by God himself. So like Paul, I want to make it my mission to learn to be content:
“…for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:11-13
One way of practicing simplicity in my life was purging my closet. This was after realizing that I had a wardrobe full of clothes but I only actually wore about 50% of them. This simple act helped ease some of the stress I had everyday from sifting through an overcrowded closet just to wear the same few items. Another way I’ve done this is introducing a buying ban on perfume. My friends know that I am a huge perfume fan but similar to my wardrobe, I had a shelf full of scents but only a few that I really favored. This buying ban helped reduce clutter on my shelf and removed the decision fatigue of picking what fragrance to wear or shopping for new scents. You’d be surprised how reducing the amount of items you own can help create not just space in your home but also space in your mind.
The last practice that Comer recommends to combat a life of hurry is Slowness: slowing down your body in an effort to slow down your life. Comer quotes John Ortberg who defines slowness as “cultivating patience by deliberately choosing to place ourselves in positions where we simply have to wait.” The benefit of Slowness is simple — cultivate patience which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and slow down your body, life, and soul long enough to actually experience God — to perceive His presence and tune into what He is saying at any given moment. Comer recommends implementing a few rules in your life to encourage slowness. Some of my personal favorites of his recommendations include journaling, killing your TV, and single-tasking to focus on one task at a time in a world that glorifies multi-tasking. He also recommends a regular day set aside for silence and solitude and practicing Jesus’ version of mindfulness and meditation which is really just a time of prayer and filling your mind with God’s word and the voice of the Holy Spirit. The heart here isn’t to create another set of laws to memorize and follow blindly but instead, to create a framework by which we can live our lives at a pace that is conducive to dwelling continually in the presence of God. I’ve implemented this by reducing the amount of responsibilities I have because stretching myself too thin made slowness impossible. Over the last year, I’ve gone from serving in 3 ministries to serving in only 1. I’ve also set clear priorities for what to focus my time and resources on based on what God has called me to. Lastly, I’m much more honest about my capacity. To live in slowness, I had to be willing to say no to tasks that would result in me overextending myself. This has given me so much peace of mind because I have freedom to focus on my priorities without feeling guilty about dropping the ball in other areas.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is living life at a pace that seems too fast for them to experience God on a personal level. I would also recommend it to anyone who feels like they are in a constant state of stress, anxiety and busyness — simply running from one task to the next. This book presents the perfect framework for combating one of the most dangerous obstacles to life with Jesus: hurry.
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GIVEAWAY: If you’re interested in reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and would like to win a physical copy, comment under this post sharing how hurry has impacted your life and how you hope to change that moving forward. I can’t wait for one of you to enjoy this book as much as I have! Winner will be selected 1 week after this post goes live.
