Hurry up?   Maybe, Maybe Not
Bob Hatcher
December 10, 2010
         Hurrying up is important for the pit crew in a NASCAR race, when a term paper has a firm deadline or when you have to arrive for an exam on time or you can’t take that exam.
Hurrying was certainly important for me when I was running a hundred yard dash, trying to evade a tackle or trying to take down an opponent in a wrestling match.   Â
But hurrying up can definitely be hard on one’s nerves, stressful, or lead to mistakes.
One can put hurrying into the context of Ecclesiastes 3:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every purpose under heaven: Â
 A time to hurry and a time to refrain from   hurrying
     These are not the actual words in Ecclesiastes 3 but they could well have been. For they are the truth.
     Often we are aware of the unpleasantness of hurrying. At least I am. It is not comfortable spending long blocks of time under the compulsion to hurry, hurry, hurry. Here are 7 ways one might move away from hurrying – 7 ways of approaching a less hurried existence:
- 1.  Plan to arrive where you are going way ahead of time. If you arrive 15 minutes early to church or 2 hours before a plane is due to leave, there are always great possibilities, especially if you carry a book with you.
- 2.  Take several deep breaths right in the midst of tasks that must be done on time and are full of pressure.
- 3.  Work into your list of tasks to complete in the day ahead, tasks that relax you or slow you down just a bit. For example: reading one of the psalms slowly; calling up a loved one just to say hello; or just saying the phrase to yourself: you are not in a hurry.
- 4.  Find a comfortable place and take a 15 minute nap. If you do this repeatedly, this can become your own little foxhole. Everyone needs a foxhole to go to in order to avoid the excitement and pressures of the day.
- 5.  Pat yourself on the back occasionally for being a good person who is doing the best you know how to do. It may help to do this literally.
- 6.  Get down on your knees to communicate for just a moment with your higher power or God.
- 7.  Remember that you can always change your plan, but only if you have a plan. In terms of the question of hurrying, this may mean giving yourself permission to decide in the course of a hectic day, to cross something off your to-do list completely before ever starting to complete it.
