So Much Hurry!

I went out for a drive today.  It’s very nice…about 70 degrees this late January day, so I took a spin in the pickup out to some of the more rural parts of Sedgwick County.  Oh, I know, there really is NO real rural area in this county, but there are wheat fields, some livestock, farmsteads, and some real dirt roads out there.  I found a couple of them.

Having the window down and the radio off, I soaked in the warmth and the scenery.  Admittedly, there isn’t as much of that in winter as in the other seasons of the year, but there were some things to see.  And the traffic, even in the rural areas was more than I thought it might be.  I’m not sure if it was because it was a nice day, or school was out and people were going home, or what.

It seemed like, though, that they were all in a hurry.  Now, maybe I was going a little too slowly…I went the speed limit where posted, and went about 40mph on the unpaved, washboardy roads.  But it seemed like folks just were in too much of a hurry today.  I don’t have a clue what was so important that they had to speed around me to get there, or impatiently wait behind me until I turned, they turned, or could pass.

You know, it seems like the world is in a hurry.  Not just the people this afternoon.  Everyone wants the line to move quickly, the food to heat right away, and instant coffee out of the Keurig.  Everyone wants their web page to load in ½ second or less, and they all want to be able to have green lights all the way.

Could it be…could it be that we hurry ourselves and busy ourselves intentionally, so we won’t have the time to stop and think?  Could it be that as long as we are distracted by busy-ness, we don’t have to think about the societal issues of the day, the world situation, and our own mortality and brokenness?  Could it be that if we have a few minutes alone with ourselves, quietly, we become nervous, unsettled, and even a little afraid?  Could it be that we’re trying to keep the wolf at bay by being busy?  That we can put off the time of reckoning, so to speak, and not have to be honest with ourselves or ponder the questions of, “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?”

And maybe that’s why I sometimes like the quiet and the out-of-the-way.  I don’t mind pondering those questions because I know who I am.  I know why I am here.  And I know where I am going.  Because I’m an adopted child of the Living God of Heaven and Earth, I know the answers to those questions.  I’m not afraid to address them.  And I’m not nervously trying to put off the next chapter in my life through busy-ness.

I’m not perfect.  I have issues.  I don’t like to think about homelessness, human trafficking, and other societal ills.  I don’t like to hear about war, starvation, or genocide.  But I know enough to know that those things, one day, will be no more.  I know that I will be a part of that great crowd from every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation that surrounds the throne of God.

This turned out to be a much more “religious” post than I originally planned for it to be.  So be it.  This is the reality.  To not write about it would be to do a disservice to you and to me.  So, take it or leave it…but make no mistake.  We WILL all one day know the answers to those eternal questions…if we don’t know now, we will in a time to come.  And the answer in the time to come just may not be what we want to hear.