Always Late?

Kent was ten minutes late for his meeting with me again. He tried to make a joke of it, “I’m sorry. I guess I need 25 hours in my day!” Invariably he ran late for meetings and events because he was always trying to squeeze one more thing into his day.

Kent complained about having too much to do and being tired of rushing around all the time. He thought that his hurried, overcrowded life was inevitable for him as a pastor who had a family and lived in Orange County, California in the 21st Century. But being an adrenaline addict in recovery myself, I knew better. So I spoke the truth in love to him, “I think you like being in a hurry and doing so much. Maybe the feeling of urgency and importance energizes you. And besides it drives you finger-drumming, foot-tapping crazy when you have to wait for people.”

Kent disagreed with me. I just smiled and left the matter in God’s hands.

A Nightmare Woke him Up to Reality

Sure enough, the night before Kent’s next appointment with me he had a dream that he took his wife and two girls on a picnic. As they walked along he was carrying the picnic lunch and the lawn chairs and his wife was holding the hands of their little girls. And he led his family to sit down together on the fast lane of the freeway!

So there they were trying to enjoy their picnic lunch while cars kept racing by. Car after car that was driving in the fast lane had to slow down and move over a lane in order not to hit them. But then a truck came barreling down the freeway, close behind a car, and not seeing them sitting there, it was about to run into his wife.

It was then that Kent woke up – in his nightmare and in his life. He told me about his frightening dream and said, “You were right in what you said to me last week. I am going too fast. My wife has been trying to tell me the same thing.”

Kent Needed Jesus' Easy Yoke

Kent’s conversations with me and the readings I gave him helped him to become more aware of how much he was using adrenaline to stay keyed up. He began to realize that he was choosing to fill up his calendar and to race from thing to thing. And that this hurried lifestyle was keeping him from enjoying God’s peace, hearing his voice, and being more attentive to people in his life.

To be sure, from time to time Kent had sought to be nourished by the God of Peace, like on extended family vacations or spiritual retreats. But it would always take him a long time to enter into a relaxed state of being and once he returned to his daily responsibilities he would go right back to his hurried self.

How did Kent get out of the fast lane and into Jesus’ easy yoke? What can we learn from Kent’s story about being still in God’s presence? He had to make a lifestyle change. He had to prostrate his productivity before the Lord. He had to remember to rely on the Holy Spirit instead of getting himself keyed up with moving fast and doing lots of things at once.

Kent learned to put more margin in his schedule, to slow down and appreciate God’s presence in the transitions of his day. He made a prayer sanctuary of times that he was driving in his car or waiting in line. And in this way he grew in God’s peace and in his ability to hear his voice. What a blessing this was for him, his family, and the church he pastored!

The “Be Still” Prayer

As part of the counseling process I taught Kent to use Scripture for “abiding prayer.” For instance he prayed Psalm 46:10 slowly, listening to God's Word as a personal message to him, breathing it in and out, and applying it to the stresses of his day. For instance, he prayed it this way:

“Be still and know that I am God... Be still and know that I am... Be still and know... Be  still... Be.”