Busy and Hurried are different (excerpt from Soul Keeping)

Dallas pointed out to me once that there is a world of difference between being busy and being hurried.  Being busy is an outward condition, a condition of the body.  It occurs when we have many things to do.  Busy-ness is inevitable in modern culture.  If you are alive today in North America, you are a busy poerson.  There are limits to how much busy-ness we can tolerate, so we wisely find ways to slow down whever we can.  We take vacations, we sit in a Lz-Z-boy with a good book, we enjoy a leisurely meal with friends.  By itself, busy-ness is not lethal.

Being hurried is an inner condition, a condition of the soul.  It means to be so preoccupied with myself and my life that I am unable to be fully present with God, with myself and with other people.  I am unable to occupy this present moment.  Busy-ness migrates to hurry when we let it squeeze God out of our lives.  Note the differences between the two:

Busy                                   Hurried
A full schedule                    Preoccupied
Many activities                    Unable to be fully present
An outward condition          An inner condition of the soul
Physically demanding         Spiritually draining
Reminds me I need God     Causes me to be unavailable to God

I cannot live in the kingdom of God with a hurried soul.  I cannot rest in God with a hurried soul.

Soul Keeping p 134

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