Dallas Willard said, “Hurry is the great enemy of souls in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”
Let that one sink in.
John Ortberg expands on this thought by saying, “Being busy is mostly a condition of our outer world; it is having many things to do. Being hurried is a problem of the soul. It’s being preoccupied with myself and what myself has to do that I am no longer able to be fully present with God and fully present with you. There is no way a soul can thrive when it is hurried.”
No way.
Get that. There is no way your soul can thrive when it is hurried. Remember the record players and how some records were supposed to be played at 33 RPM and others at 45 RPM and still others geared to be played at 78 RPM? Remember when you were a kid and you’d take a 33 RPM and switch the player to 78 RPM? Remember what it sounded like?
Your soul is geared to run at about 4 RPM or 8 RPM or maybe 16 RPM. This world you’re living in is constantly running at 78 or faster. And you life disintegrates over this. Your world has separated from your soul and if you’re lucky, your soul is quietly speaking to you. It’s asking you to slow down.
It is only in the slowing down that your soul can connect with the Father, connect with the vine that nourishes and sustains you. A disconnected soul is soon to be a withered branch tossed upon a fire.
Your soul is all you’re going to take with you into eternity. You sure won’t take your body or your possessions or your checkbook. Your reputation and your achievements will wither in the hot sun after you’re gone. But your soul is what matters and you are the steward of your soul. The world will not take care of your soul. Only you can do that.
The starting point is being ruthless about eliminating hurry from your life. Hurry suffocates the soul. Your soul wants to breathe. Your soul longs for connection with the Father. Nourishment for your soul (your soil) will come from disconnecting from the Matrix and resting in the Father’s provision.
But to do this, it will take a “death”. Much of where we’re heading will be around this thought of “it takes a death”. The foundation of the Gospel is centered on a death. To eliminate hurry from your life, some things are going to have to “die”. You will have to surrender your agenda, your kingdom, your pace, your drivenness to achieve … surrender that, let it “die” … (DIRT) … so that you can shift to, “Thy will be done”.
Then you can stop the train, pause, rest and let your soul play at the speed it was intended to run.
Deep Roots. Mighty Oaks. 