Many people end up living like Tattoo, the young basset hound in Tacoma, Washington. Newspaper reports indicate Tattoo didn’t intend to go for a run, but when his owner shut the leash in the car door and drove off with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, Tattoo had no choice.
When an officer noticed the vehicle dragging something behind it, he discovered a hound dog running as fast as he could! The officer stopped the car and Tattoo was rescued, but not before Tattoo had reached nearly 25 miles an hour.
Often, we end up like Tattoo with our days marked by rushing as fast as we can and we want to say, “Stop the world, I want to get off,” but we can’t. We’re caught in the “acceleration trap” of frantic busyness and schedule overload. Perhaps you have seen the sign in the gas station: “We help you move faster!” Most of us don’t want to go any faster.
Forty years ago, electronics were designed to save time. Today, the new products are designed to control our time – not to give us more free time but to enable us to fit more into our limited time.
Some people aren’t so busy, but they say they are busy, because being busy is a badge of authority and significance.
What can we do about a problem we know too well?
1. BALANCE YOUR LIFESTYLE
Busyness is not all bad; busyness can be good. The key is in finding the balance point and that balance point is different for each of us. The solution to busyness is not laziness or idleness. The Bible teaches that idleness is not good.
If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks. (Ecclesiastes 10:18).
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle … For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you. (2 Thessalonians 3:6-7).
A full day’s work brings a sense of fulfillment. Busy people have brought about great accomplishments throughout history. Our world is run by busy people. We often hear: “If you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it.” Busy people are often the most productive people.
Being busy can be good, but too much busyness can be a problem. Busyness can be costly. People who do not bring balance to their schedules, pay a big price. A packed schedule can be exciting, but it can also cost us dearly.
Here are some areas of life where we could pay a price.
Health. Our bodies were not created to run non-stop seven days a week. Our bodies need rest, our emotions need a break and our minds need to unwind. When we don’t give our bodies time to recuperate, they rebel and cause all sorts of health issues.
Creativity. Busy people are rarely creative. Creative people have moments of solitude and quiet when they think, dream and create.
Family. Some parents go to work before the kids are up and come home as they are going to bed. No wonder their children suffer. Marriages can’t last when one or both partners is going flat out with work and hobbies.
Faith. Tragically, some busy people damage their faith. Excessively busy people are so activity-oriented, that they don’t take time for God and spiritual concerns. God’s at the bottom of the agenda and sometimes there’s no time left for God, faith and spiritual growth.
Overly busy people fare worse than their peers at work in performance, efficiency and productivity. Excessive busyness creates stress and brings about poor results. Busyness brought about the saying, “The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get!” There’s a German saying, “He who begins too much, accomplishes too little.”
Fred Smith, the Christian businessman who started Fed-Ex, said, “Spend time on the high-leverage activities and delegate those activities that aren’t high-leverage.” In other words, concentrate on those things that will make the most impact for your effort.
2. UNDERSTAND YOUR BUSYNESS
Busyness is not easy to understand. Here are some reasons we’re busy.
Legitimate responsibilities. If you have twins going through the “terrible twos,” you are going to be busy. At certain times of the year, you will probably experience busyness at work, in your family or in your ministry.
Over-commitment. Some of us overestimate what we can do. There are just so many things we want to do. We want to be involved in what’s happening.
A “to-the-rescue-mentality.” People tell us, “We can’t do this without you. You’re absolutely necessary to the project. You’ve just got to help us.” We feel we have to respond. And it feeds our ego to be wanted and needed. In reality, few people are indispensable.
Guilt. Some are busy, because they’d feel guilty if they weren’t. Many people fill up their schedules with projects, simply because they would feel guilty not being busy. Sometimes guilt is self-induced; sometimes others make us feel guilt.
Psychological needs. Most of us blame our busyness on external factors –
deadlines to meet, schedules to keep and the demands other people put on us. The real reasons for busyness are not always external; they may be internal. Some people are addicted to busyness. We’re afraid of silence and keeping busy prevents us from having to face our empty souls.
Some worship at the idol of a full schedule. When we’re busy, it gives temporary legitimacy to our lives, we feel important, needed and necessary. We are busy, not because we have to be, but because we are driven by inner psychological needs.
Understand your busyness. Your busyness may have nothing to do with what needs to be done!
3. STREAMLINE YOUR LIFE
Discipline your lifestyle. Eliminate the clutter, the distractions .and the secondary things.
Slow down. Drive in the slow lane on the expressway, eat your food slowly and get in the slowest line at the check-out counter.
Prioritize. Our dilemma goes deeper than the shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. It is not long hours of work that hurt us. Rather, it’s unclear priorities. We don’t need to stop working; we need to stop pursuing the wrong activities.
Focus. Often, urgent things crowd out the important things. Seldom must the important thing be done today; urgent things must be done right now. There is constant tension between the urgent and the important. Urgent things distract us from the important things. An Old Testament prophet told a parable of a man who was given the responsibility of guarding a man, but the man escaped. Here’s the explanation he gave the king: While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared. (1 Kings 20:40). He was busy but not focused on his job.
Delegate. Jesus recruited people, trained them and delegated responsibility to them. Jesus didn’t try to do it all himself. Moses had to learn this. Jethro advised Moses: You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. (Exodus 18:18).
Schedule gaps in your calendar. Don’t cram your schedule so full that you don’t have time to think and recuperate.
Guard your Sabbath. Keep one day different from every other day. Keep a day to concentrate on God in a special way.
When you live at break-neck speed, you are not living life to the fullest. Remember, it is not enough to be busy. The key is to be productive.
4. YOKE YOURSELF TO JESUS
There’s an answer to our busyness. The answer lies in Jesus. Jesus was likely the busiest person who ever lived. Crowds pestered him, strangers grabbed his clothing and needy people disturbed his sleep. Jesus worked hard, yet his life was never feverish.
Mark 6:30-56 describes a busy day in the life of Jesus. He debriefed the disciples after their time of ministry, took a boat across the lake, taught a large crowd, fed 5,000, put his disciples into a boat and he went up a mountain to pray. He saw the disciples in trouble and walked on the water to rescue them. When they landed, the crowd grabbed him and wanted him to heal them. Jesus lived an extremely busy life and understands our pressures. Here’s his offer to us:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30).
There are four operative words.
Come. Jesus invites people overcome with busyness to come to him. Nothing could be simpler. Just come.
Take. Respond to Jesus. He said, Take my yoke upon you. A yoke is a wooden harness used by farmers to connect two animals to do a job. Jesus’ yoke is not to make life miserable for us; he offers us his yoke to make us more productive. Jesus wants us to go through life, connected to him.
Learn. Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Coming to Jesus is a learning experience and there is so much for us to learn. We need to learn how to please God, how to avoid the pitfalls of life and how to schedule our lives and handle our busyness.
Find. Jesus said, you will find rest for your soul. Jesus said his yoke was easy. He offers you rest.
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3).
Some people are in denial about the pace of the life they live. It’s not just workaholics climbing the corporate ladder who are busy. Some stay-at-home mothers can be caught in the trap too.
It is good to be busy, if we are busy doing the right things. Evaluate your priorities and focus on what has lasting value.
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