Is hurry stealing your joy?

Is hurry stealing your joy?

A question I’ve been asking a lot lately is not just how can I seek after joy, but also what are some everyday enemies of it? What things could be limiting my ability to experience joy daily without my realizing it? And one of these enemies I’ve been thinking, reading, and talking a lot about recently is: hurry.

If you’re honest, when is the last time you went through an entire week or day without feeling hurried or rushed? And is this crazed pace of life you’re living, the chronic hurriedness of your heart, stealing your joy? If fatigue and anxiety and burnout are regular symptoms you suffer, what is the cure?

I think it starts with learning to savor. And I don’t mean holding that piece of dark chocolate in your mouth a little bit longer (though that is certainly savoring). I mean practicing the art of the pause for real, momentary appreciation. I mean prioritizing things that fill your soul or warm your heart over (not ultimately in place of, just ahead of) things that drain you. I mean saying no’s to the frivolous or extra to make space for the life-giving yeses. I mean intentionalizing your attention.

What if it’s true that “all the spiritual masters inside and outside of the Christian tradition agree (as do secular psychologists, mindfulness experts, etc.) if there’s a secret to happiness, it’s simple – presence to the moment. The most present we are to the now, the more joy we tap into”?

Like all the beautiful things that grieving at a young age has taught me, loss has reoriented time back to its rightful place as my most precious commodity. I want to savor everything! I want to slow the pace at which I used to run. I want to taste and see that God is good and my people are awesome every single day in some small way. I want to sop up every moment of this engagement and wedding and coming newlywed season of life that I tearfully begged God for for years. And I want you to experience the magnitude of life’s daily gifts when you train yourself to see them and savor them. What if joy is somewhere right in front of you? Don’t you want to savor it too?