Category Archives: Hurry Sickness

Daily Riches: Sabbath and the Trance of Overwork (Wayne Muller and Thomas Merton)

Posted on by under Being and Doing, Busyness, Hurry Sickness, Loving Well, Sabbath Rhythms, Self-care

“Sabbath is not dependent upon our readiness to stop. We do not stop when we are finished. We do not stop when we complete our phone calls, finish our project, get through this stack of messages, or get out this report that is due tomorrow. We stop because it is time to stop…. Sabbath dissolves the artificial urgency of our days, because it liberates us from the need to be finished. … In the trance of overwork, we take everything for granted. We consume things, people, and information. We do not have time to savor this life, nor to care deeply and gently for ourselves, our loved ones, or our world; rather with increasingly dizzying haste, we use them all up, and throw them away.” Wayne Muller

“Set me free from the laziness that goes about disguised as activity
when activity is not demanded of me.” Thomas Merton

And [Jesus] said to them,
 “Come away by yourselves
to a secluded place
and rest a while.”
Mark 6:31

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Is the “trance of overwork” preventing you from having “time to savor this life?” Is your urgency necessary or “artificial?”
  • Is your life characterized by a “dizzying haste?” Do you have the time to care “deeply and gently” for yourself and your loved ones?
  • Is your “time to stop” only when you’re “finished?” If so, what does that say about you?

Abba, teach me to stop and rest – to learn to care deeply and gently for myself – and then out of that place, to care deeply and gently for others and our world.

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For More: Sabbath by Wayne Muller

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Contemplation and Activism (Wayne Muller)

Posted on by under Being and Doing, Busyness, Change Yourself First, Contemplation and Activism, Hurry Sickness, Social Justice

“I have sat on dozens of boards and commissions with many fine, compassionate, and generous people who are so tired, overwhelmed, and overworked that they have neither the time nor the capacity to listen to the deeper voices that speak to the essence of the problems before them. Presented with the intricate and delicate issues of poverty, public health, community well-being, and crime, our impulse, born of weariness, is to rush headlong toward doing anything that will make the problem go away. Maybe then we can finally go home and get some rest. But without the essential nutrients of rest, wisdom, and delight embedded in the problem-solving process itself, the solution we patch together is likely to be an obstacle to genuine relief. Born of desperation, it often contains enough fundamental inaccuracy to guarantee an equally perplexing problem will emerge as soon as it is put into place. In the soil of the quick fix is the seed of a new problem, because our quiet wisdom is unavailable.” Wayne Muller

“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
‘In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.’”
Isaiah 30:15

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Years ago Lewis Grant coined the phrase “sunset fatigue” to describe the exhausted state in which so many arrive home at the end of a work day. Do you often feel like you’re done before the day is?
  • Muller’s words remind us that exhaustion sabotages much of what we do, not only at home after “sunset”, but in business settings, community service or the practice of social justice.
  • Muller’s words are from his book Sabbath, so he is suggesting that we need to regularly stop, rest, delight and contemplate – essentially that self-care must precede any kind of usefulness. Does your life reflect this truth?

Abba, lead me regularly into the sabbath rest you have for me, and to live out of that. Impress upon me the need to care for myself well if I’m to be of any use to others.

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For More: Sabbath by Wayne Muller

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Sabbath and the Rhythm of Rest (Nancy Schongalla-Bowman)

Posted on by under Being and Doing, Busyness, Hurry Sickness, Sabbath Rhythms

“Despite the commandment, despite the day of rest and savoring that closed the creation story, many of us struggle to maintain a rhythm that includes intentional times of play and “non-doing.” Having just finished nature’s season of Sabbath we are reminded that spring, creativity, newness of life, are preceded by fallow time when it appears that nothing is happening. Prayer too is a time when it appears that nothing is happening. But Sabbath and prayer provide necessary opportunities for us to re-align with God and to remember that our purpose is union, faithfulness, and delight, not perfection or productivity.”

“Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work,
so that your ox and your donkey may rest,
and so that the slave born in your household
and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.”
Exodus 23:12

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Many of us sense the need for “realigning with God” during each day (e.g., Daily Office) and in the course of each week (Sabbath) – and yet we “struggle” with these practices. What do you suppose accounts for that?
  • Even if the Sabbath command is no longer binding today, can you hear God’s heart in Exodus 23 – to give the gift of rest to his people and those who work for them – even to animals? Do you see value in rest and “fallow time” in the world?  in your life?
  • Do you agree with the statement that our purpose “is union, faithfulness, and delight, not perfection or productivity?” Even productivity? Have you built elements into your regular schedule that reflect this claim?

Abba, sometimes it seems like everyone else is running, striving, and grasping – chasing the brass ring, measuring by accomplishment, affirmation and efficiency. I want union with you more than I want those things. Help me to develop a rhythm of regularly recalibrating my relationship with you and your purposes.

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For More: ”Sabbath: Keeping a Rhythm of Rest” by Nancy Schongalla-Bowman

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Silence and Stillness (Robert Frost)

Posted on by under Contemplation, Hurry Sickness, Silence, Stillness
“Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
 .
“My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
 .
“He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
.
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.” –
 “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” –  Robert Frost
.
“Oh, that I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest!
I would fly far away to the quiet of the wilderness.”  Psalm 55:6,7
.
Moving From the Heart to the Head
  • Have you ever experienced something this profound and beautiful in nature? Where? How long ago? Did you seek it out, or did it “just happen” like in this poem?
  • Is it the horse or the driver that “thinks it’s queer” to stop near these dark woods? Is there “some mistake?” How often do you find yourself unable to stop and really experience something special because you have “miles to go before [you] sleep?”
  • As the speaker hurries on to keep his promises, what are we to imagine he is feeling? What is the take-away message of the poem?
  • The horse “gives his harness bells a shake”, and the driver moves on. What does it take to convince you to move on and attend to business when you’re experiencing some kind of transcendence? What does your answer say about you?
“Lord, help me to do one thing at a time today, without rushing or hurrying. Help me to savor the sacred in all I do …empower me to pause today as I move from one activity to the next.” – Peter Scazzero

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For More: Poetry: A Pocket Anthology by R. S. Gwynn

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Patience with Yourself (Shirley Carter Hughson)

Posted on by under Embracing Losses and Limits, Hurry Sickness, Patience with Yourself

“I am sure than when St. Paul spoke of ‘the fruit of the Spirit,’ he had in mind such processes that as we find in nature. A tree which brings forth good fruit is able to do so because over many years it has been brought under the influence of cultivation, fertilization, sunshine, rain, caressing winds, [and] cleaning from blight, and so it acquires the power to bear good fruit. A farmer cannot get his result by suddenly becoming very busy for a season and doing these things.”  Shirley Carter Hughson


“He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season…”
Psalm 1:3

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Most living things grow “over many years.” We like to be “very busy for a season” trying to achieve quick progress, but nature (and God) refuse to be rushed. Imagine the possible difference between your timetable and expectations for your spiritual progress, and what God is thinking. (There are good reasons why the Christian life has often been called a “journey.”)
  • Fruit comes “in it’s season”, and as a result of years “under the influence of cultivation, fertilization, sunshine, rain, caressing winds, [and] cleaning from blight….” Healthy growth takes both time and work, but is definitely does take time.
  • With this in mind, think about people on the journey of faith. What should be your attitude towards fellow pilgrims? What should be your attitude toward yourself? Can you relax and trust God’s timing? What would be the lessons for where you are now? that you may need to learn before you can move on?

Abba, help me to walk rather than to race, to receive rather than to grasp, and to relax rather than to strive. Help me to step into the flow of your divine life rather than living a frenzied version of my very human life. Help me focus on being with you and trust you for the timetable.

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For More: The Spiritual Letters of Shirley Carter by Shirley Carter Hughson

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: “Change Yourself First” (David K. Flowers)

Posted on by under Change Yourself First, contemplative virtues, Hurry Sickness, Silence, Solitude, Stillness

“You don’t need to fix your friends or family. You don’t need to solve all the problems that confront you. If you can simply learn to not be controlled by fear — your own or that of others — you will be a non-anxious presence in the lives of others, and there is nothing they need more. So how do you do this? By confronting your own anxieties and fears head-on. An anxious person cannot be a non-anxious presence, obviously. The world is full of people wanting to solve all the problems of the world. But the world would profit much more if people would first confront their own anxieties and the things that cause them 1) to have to fill every silence with meaningless chatter, 2) to stay constantly busy, and 3) to do anything to avoid being still.”  David K. Flowers

“First get rid of the log in your own eye;
then you will see well enough
to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
Jesus in Matthew 7:5

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • It’s much easier to focus on “fixing” another person (a spouse, a child, a friend) than it is to look within. In many instances, Jesus wants us to leave the other person to him. Is there someone in your life right now that you’re trying to “fix?”
  • Flowers suggests we can nevertheless powerfully help others by bringing a “non-anxious presence” into our relationships with them. Do you regularly have a non-anxious presence?
  • Can you spend time before God in silence and stillness? Are you too busy to be without anxiety? What can you do differently to have more of a “non-anxious presence?”

Abba, I know I need to learn more about slowing down, sitting still, being quiet and being alone with you. I want to learn to rest in your love – and offer it to others. Please teach me.

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For More: Living Truthfully: Discovering the Freedom that Comes From Finding, Facing, and Following the Truth … by David K. Flowers

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in about 300 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Contemplation (John Eudes Bamberger)

Posted on by under Contemplation, Death Daily, Hurry Sickness, Learning Your Proper Place

“When you are faithful in [silent meditation] … you will slowly experience yourself in a deeper way.  Because in this useless hour in which you do nothing ‘important’ or urgent you have to come to terms with your basic powerlessness, you have to feel your fundamental inability to solve your or other people’s problems or to change the world. When you do not avoid that experience but live through it, you will find out that your many projects, plans, and obligations become less urgent, crucial, and important and lose their power over you.” John Eudes Bamberger

“Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.”
Psalm 131:2

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you able to go to the place the Psalmist writes about, where your soul is quieted and you experience great love, peace, protection, and acceptance from your heavenly parent?
  • Do you have a deep sense of your own “basic powerlessness … to solve your or other people’s problems?” Do you attempt to “avoid that feeling” or try to “live through it?” What is the result?
  • In the press of a busy day, time spent sitting quietly before the Lord can seem “useless” or like “doing nothing.” Have you established a daily practice to keep from skipping such time so that you can more powerfully sense his love for you and your own limitations and needs?

Abba, I pray that the false urgency of my world would lose it’s grip on me as I linger in your presence. I pray that, more and more, I would sense your great love towards me. Help me to breathe in that love, and then exhale it out as my gift, and your gift, to my world.

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For More: The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Patience With Yourself (Teilhard de Chardin)

Posted on by under Hurry Sickness, Patience with Yourself

“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some states of instability – and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually – let them grow, let them shape themselves without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you. And accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.”   Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ ” Matthew 25:40 NASV

“What if you discovered that the least of the brethren of Jesus,10171841_10151987010386851_1794316792549983598_n
the one who needs your love the most,
the one you can help the most by loving,
the one to whom your love will be most meaningful –
what if you discovered that
this least of the brethren of Jesus … is you?”
Then do for yourselves
what you would do for others.”
Carl Jung

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Think of all the ways you are “impatient to reach the end” of something or other. Now think about the inevitably “slow work of God.” Obviously, patience is necessary!
  • It seems to me that de Chardin’s words make a powerful springboard for prayer. Read though what he says slowly. Let it sink in, and see if you can let it turn into prayer, phrase by phrase.
  • de Chardin counsels us to “accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.” Think about “accepting” anxiety, and feeling yourself “in suspense and incomplete.” Can you do that? How will you?

Abba, help me to trust in your slow work in me – to not give up on you, or on me. May I find you in my incompleteness and the anxiety that so often comes when I look in the mirror.

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For More: Hearts on Fire by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in less than 300 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Loving Well (John Ortberg)

Posted on by under Hurry Sickness, Loving Well

“Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart. …The most serious sign of hurry sickness is a diminished capacity to love. Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is one thing hurried people don’t have. …It is because it kills love that hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life.”  John Ortberg

“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10 NLB

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • When you’re in a hurry, do you have a sense that your heart is “disordered?” Can you move around in a hurry and still experience a sense of connectedness or union with God?
  • “Love always takes time, and time is one thing hurried people don’t have.” That’s probably convicting to many of us, but it powerfully points out the problem with hurry. How often do you think you fail to love as you should simply because you “don’t have the time?”
  • If hurry is “the great enemy of the spiritual life” it’s quite a threat. What daily practice can you adopt, or what kind of change to your routine, so that you address the problem of hurry?

Abba, it seems I was born in a hurry – and that when I hurry it is often for no good reason. I know it’s causing me to fail at loving well. Help me to “cease striving and know that you are God” – to learn that it’s not necessary for me to live frantically for you to be exalted in my world, in my life – or in this day.

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For More: The Life You Always Wanted by John Ortberg

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in less than 300 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)