Rushing Past
A reflection on the challenges of impatience.
Rushing is prioritizing.
It is living with the belief that there are things more important than right now.
It isn’t so much that future destinations and activities aren’t extremely important, they very well might be. The question, however, is whether it or they are more important than right now? The risk in believing this is to rush past and miss something important I likely didn’t realize was at stake.
Does this mean we should never hurry or accept being late, thus inconveniencing others while justifying to ourselves that they just don’t get it?
There is frankly nothing more annoying than someone behaving spiritually enlightened, which is a polite way of saying she or he is spiritually superior.
Right now I’m sitting in an airport terminal waiting to board a flight. In this moment when I am locked in, having passed the TSA screening process, and there is no plane just yet to board, I am drawn, at least this morning, to reflect on rushing through life. I think back on all the flights and road trips I have taken to get somewhere to be with some or many ones but where I failed to pause and reflect on the truth I am never alone.
Loneliness and being alone are two different matters.
The first is an attitude and the second is a circumstance of appearance. Loneliness is internal. Being by myself, even in a crowded terminal, need not evoke any sad thoughts at all. In fact, when the spiritual discipline of solitude is practiced often it provides a buffer from the drive to rush past.
So what is available to me right now?
Prayer is the first thought that pops into my mind. I know this will sound lame to many. I used to think so myself, but that was back when I was addicted to adrenaline. Somehow I believed myself more significant and important if I had thirty things to do right now which then allowed me to reduce sleep and increase caffeine. After awhile I was manipulating my mood chemically. No, I didn’t do drugs but I didn’t have to. All that was required was to mentally induce a subliminal panic over deadlines I was sure I would miss. The more I worried the more important I felt. Things had to get done or everything would fall apart. It’s called catastrophizing, imagining the worst case scenario for everything.
Prayer reminds me I am not alone and I am not in charge.
So what if I missed my flight?
What if I missed an appointment? (And I am one who makes a living when others keep their appointments with me).
The answer is the world will not come to an end.
Things will work out, and when they do, often times they self-correct without requiring me to complain, harass, or throw my portly weight around.
I have found that the more I relax and live in as many present moments as possible the more opportunities I am giving others to do the things they do best - like rebook my flight or reschedule my appointment. And my role shifts from nag or nuisance to giving encouragement and appreciation. I can build others up and not tear them down.
And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:22-32 (ESV)
