While slurping my coffee and bolting down my small-egg-on-half-a-muffin…and longing for the days of ham and pancakes…and watching the clock so I can leave in time to wash the car before heading to the office…dashing from the office in time to attend an early afternoon funeral… In the middle of all that I heard a whisper, “Marilyn, you have just enough time for it all.” (Yes, the Holy Sprit does speak while I scan the daily paper’s front page.)
Dr. John Ortberg writes about a life changing experience:
“Not long after moving to Chicago, I called a wise friend to ask for some spiritual direction. I described the pace of life in my current ministry. The church where I serve tends to move at a fast clip. I also told him about our rhythms of family life: we are in the van-driving, soccer-league, piano-lesson, school-orientation-night years. I told him about the present condition of my heart, as best I could discern it. What did I need to do, I asked him, to be spiritually healthy?
Long pause.
‘You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life,’ he said at last.
Another long pause.
‘Okay, I’ve written that one down,’ I told him, a little impatiently. ‘That’s a good one. Now what else is there?’ I had many things to do, and this was a long-distance call, so I was anxious to cram as many units of spiritual wisdom into the least amount of time possible.
Another long pause.
‘There is nothing else,’ he said. ‘You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.’”*
In another place Ortberg writes, “Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life in our day. There’s a difference between being busy and being hurried. Busy is a condition of the body having many things to do. Hurry is a condition of the soul in which I am so preoccupied that I cannot be fully present to God or a person. Jesus was often busy, but he was never hurried.”** (Emphasis my own.)
As I finish writing these words I’m asking, “Am I busy today or am I hurried? What will the differences look like? Who will I really see and listen to at the office? Whose heart must I peer into at the funeral? Will I hear or see Jesus today?”
I have just enough time to leave now and get the car washed…
*Leadership Journal, 2002
**Living in Christ’s Presence, Dallas Willard and John Ortberg
God's Perennial Woman 
Thank you Marilyn, since our re-treading, I don’t feel ‘hurried’ but I certainly have friends and possibly family who are. I will be passing this message on to them. It is so nice to have you back on line. God Bless You and your dear hubby today.
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What great words of wisdom. I was just leaving to hurry to the grocery store when I had a second thought! It lead me to your truths which I needed to see in writing. We arrived in Frankfort last night and I somehow switched to hurry mode! Your posts always hit home!! 💙🏖🌺 Wish you were here. A friend left chocolate eclair cupcakes in refrigerator. Going to pass out house keys.
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