From the Chaplain “Busyness”

In the 1960s, a new type of restaurant became popular in America. It sold food not based on quality or even pricing, but on the fact it could be delivered quickly. It was called ‘fast food’. Of course, you still had to park your car, walk into the restaurant, wait in line, order, and then take the food to the table. Because all this took time, they eventually invented the drive-thru lane so families could eat in vans and RVs as God intended them to do.

These days, some of us probably suffer from ‘hurry sickness’, a disease that can create havoc physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. I once read of a woman who said her idea of a vacation was a trip to the dentist. “I just can’t wait to lie back in the chair and relax,” she said. When the highlight of your week is a root canal, there’s got to be something wrong. In Chapter 12 of Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells the story of a person who was willing to do whatever it took to succeed – and it certainly took everything. In fact, it killed him. In the story, Jesus calls the man a fool because he was so busy making a living that he didn’t make a life. His folly was characterised by two common illusions: the first being that someday ‘more would be enough’. That if he just kept accumulating more, it would eventually lead to contentment. The writers of scripture, however, have a different take. The apostle Paul suggests that contentment is learned behaviour and depends on a particular perspective we bring to life, a ‘gratitude attitude’, and the understanding that more will never be enough. The man’s second illusion was the idea that things would eventually ‘settle down’. I mean, when do things ever settle down?

And what about us? Successful people are inevitably busy people. Indeed, busyness seems to be a way of life, with some people being capable of doing six things at once but incapable of doing nothing. A perennial challenge, then, is how we can guard our wellbeing in the busyness of life. Well, maybe the secret lies in finding ways to eliminate hurry. Finding ways to push pause, and to stop, even when there is still more to do. Finding ways of saying no, even to excellent opportunities. Finding ways to be a human being rather than a human doing.

How do we eliminate hurry from our lives in a world where the ability to do many things, and at speed, seems to be the hallmark of a successful person?

Perhaps the concept of Sabbath rest is worth exploring. In the creation story found in Genesis Chapter 1, we read that God worked hard for six days, but on the seventh day, performed the absolute act of freedom and did nothing. Nothing at all. Zilch. Zero. Zip. What’s more, this act of rest was so good that God didn’t just call it ‘good’ or even ‘very good’. God blessed the seventh day and called it ‘holy’. Thus, the very first thing in all creation that God called holy, that God called blessed, wasn’t a people or a place but a day of rest.

In the eyes of the world, there is no payoff for ‘sitting on the porch without no shoes, picking the bass and singing the blues’ as musician J.J. Cale put it. If we want to succeed in this life, we are told that we must work, work, work. Well, according to the writer Barbara Brown Taylor, in God’s eyes sitting on the porch is essential, crucial. And not just every now and then but on a regular basis. After all, it doesn’t seem to matter how much sleep we get, we can still feel exhausted. Now of course in our modern 24/7 world, the idea of a Sabbath, of taking a day of rest and particularly in the traditional sense, is a hard ask; and frankly for most of us, not that practical. If a whole day of life-giving freedom each week is too much to ask for, what say we start wherever we can? An hour or two here or there. We could try a ‘technology sabbath’. Ditching the device, a digital detox. Shutting down our connections for a few intentional hours a week and using that time to connect with and enjoy our loved ones and the fruit of our labour. Or simply to rest, reflect, and enjoy some serenity, peace, quiet.

As we continue through life, we could resolve to never add anything new to our calendar without at least considering subtracting something from it. And we could praise ourselves for having the courage at times to say no. And we could rest the premise that we are not indispensable, and are worth much more than what we produce. And if occasionally we spent more time being good for nothing, more time chilling, more time just being, we would still be precious in our family’s eyes.

Fides Servanda Est. Rev. David Smith College Chaplain