this last week, i was still and knew…
So this began with a throw-away line in a sermon and a post titled, ‘If you are always in a rush, are you really following Jesus [who never was]?
Followed by the invitation to do a non-rush experiment which about 15 people took up with me… and which i would highly advise you giving a try from today if you were not one of those people… and an excerpt from the devotional i am working through looking at the place of rest being the source of strength.
and so here is the conclusion or a glimpse into the experience and i am hoping that some of the others who did this will share their experiences in the comments section below… and even if you arrived at this party a little late and decide to do this over the next week, we would love to hear how it went for you so come back and share.
basically the idea was to take between 10 and 20 minutes each day and just stop and be still and intentionally step back from the rush of what life and busyness and work and social networking can become… and to listen and watch and breathe and pray and take it all in.
we have been working at our home this week and so i tried to do my non-rush time around lunchtime each day and went outside and sat in the empty parking space behind our four apartment complex or on the pavement in front and just slowed everything down…
and it was really great.
stepping away from the computer screen for one was a good discipline. turning off from work and social networks and responsibilities and just focusing on God and the surroundings.
one thing i did a lot of was focusing on different sounds… so people and then traffic and then nature – just focusing on an individual sound or collection of sounds within the noise of the day. another was focusing on nature. different types of trees. a lone bird sitting on a rooftop, and another on an electricity wire and a third on a tree.
another thing was letting me mind wander to people i knew who needed prayer. so taking time to lift them up to God and think about them and their situation. by slowing down the day i found that these came flowing towards me with greater ease. who do i know that could use some prayer right now? and then later on taking time to email some of them and encourage them or just let them know they were in my prayers.
taking time to inward reflect a little. about my life in general, what positive changes could be made? about my relationship with tbV and other friends of mine. about responsibilities and things needing to be prioritised. i found that slowing down in many ways helped me to become more focused and hopefully more productive or intentional when i went back to work and life.
it is something i want to continue to do because i see the value for it every day. the irony in the week of doing ‘non-rush’ moments of being still is that it was the Saturday [when i only had one thing on my agenda] that i did’t get around to doing it… only day i missed was my least busiest day… which says to me this is something we can make time for.
how about you? i would love to hear how your time of non-rushingment went…
[To continue to the next post looking at Keeping a Log of Gratitude for a Week, click here]
Irresistibly Fish 
Hey Fish 🙂
Thanks again for initiating this and for sharing how it went for you, thumbs up! I guess the hard differentiation to make was between the common time spent with God (the so called “quiet time” which for me can involved loud music and out loud conversations to God) and then the be still moments which for me meant more of a listening session or even just a see what comes up session.
I found it very difficult to fully stop and cut off from whatever I was doing… I have the conditioned habit of trying to always do more with my time. So I would watch a youtube video while munching breakfast. This forced me to be very intentional about cutting off properly from the busyness.
When I did cut off, I slipped into “crash mode” I would lay down and end up falling asleep, or day dream with no real direction or purpose. Obviously “being still” needs a tiny bit of purpose or direction… so all in all I found it very difficult.
What I did manage to accomplish as a kind of alternative to the on/off button on a busy life, was to take busy stressful moments with a chill pill. For me that meant when I get frantic or start rushing (while driving when I’m late, while doing a million last minute admin things before setting out, or just feeling overwhelmed) I would try to conceptualise what Jesus would be thinking of me at that moment. Most of the time I see Him laughing at how important I make silly things, and how seriously I take myself when I don’t need to. This really helped me to slow down quite a lot and take life at a slightly more “be still” mode.
I agree that there are further benefits from actually cutting off properly, and I hope to attain that practice as a habit. For now, I enjoyed having a look at myself as a silly busy mess and rather laugh it off and take that icy rush feeling away.
Dave
great stuff Dave and it’s fine that it didn’t work out the way you may have thought – maybe there will be another chance to try it again some day but it has started you thinking on some things and changing some habits, then it has been successful so well done on giving it a go and trust that you will find a generally less frenetic and more silly-appreciating pace of life!’
Brett, thanks for posting this idea and especially the first blog on ‘Jesus never rushed’.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this topic the last week. It changed my life quiet a bit. I slowed my whole life around.
I want to start with what’s been happening to me since a while back. I love driving fast and I love the rush of things. The past few months I have started calming down, I actually drive like 100km/h one a 120 highway. I turned 25 three weeks ago and it’s as if I have aged a decade in these 3 weeks. Gods just revealed so many things to me about us needing to see the things He sees.
You know, this thought that Jesus never rushed, even to the extent that people died, got to me. Here I am, rushing to get to clients, etc and for what? I’ve slowed down a lot and I’ve realized that we are creating so many problems for ourselves. We rush, so our blood pressure goes up, then were late, so we go over the speed limit (sinning). Then we get upset with people who drive in front of us and we have road rage. Then we get to people and we are in such a bad mood, we are agitated and then we say something stupid. There are so many sins/problems that lead from rushing.
Spendingtquiet time with God is something I haven’t done in very long and it’s been great. Gods opened my eyes to so many aspects in life and just making me aware of so many things.
Thanks again for the thought
ah excellent to hear Marthunis, thankx so much for sharing… hoping this will prove to be a life shift for many of us who took part…
Such a good challenge! I wasn’t actually disciplined enough to sit still for a while everyday, eeek. But a totally worthwhile practice. I felt actual physical tension leave my body; my mind and heart was quieter and calmer everyday and I had a greater sense of peace and contentment.
I think rushing can become a habit. It’s not that I don’t have time to be still, it’s more that I’m always thinking of the next thing that needs to happen.
I definitely want to change my lifestyle into a calmer one!
Hey Brett
So I decided to say ‘Im in’ otherwise i would never take the step to try and do the no-rush thing.
I work at a special school and catch one of the buses that picks up the children from the surrounding areas. My no-rushing time would be the 30min on the bus in the mornings. Easier said than done! Usually I would reply to emails, sms’e, whatsap messages that got lost during the day, etc. So the challenge was to keep my phone in my bag, on silent until we got to the school!
On monday morning i asked God to show me what he loves. At the stop after mine an autistic 7year old kid gets onto the bus. Usually he touches every body, babbles, etc but I get around him, and he doesn’t really bother me. On that first monday morning he sat infront of me…o boy! he wouldnt leave me alone. Touching me, pinching me, talking to me (very unclearly!), singing and humming to me! I got so irritated until God softly spoke to into my soul and saying ‘I love him!’
The other mornings were still quite a battle with myself to keep my phone away and sometimes an email or 2 would win 5 minutes, but otherwise I think it went ok. I was soo amazed at how a mere 30 min no-rushing could affect your day. I was calmer, felt more in touch with the Holy spirit throughout the day and things did not upset me quite as much.
God showed me so many things on route and it was amazing. the amount of nature even in a city, how blessed I am to have transport, etc. Such a wow time!
Thanx for initiating the no-rushing experiment. I am definitely going to try and continue with it!
Leandri
i failed rather miserably at this. i intend to try it again soon.
the moments that i did manage to do it reminded me of a line from a song by pink “the quiet scares me cos it screams the truth”…i often caught my mind wandering to places it shouldn’t, which makes me think that it does that all (or a lot of) the time, but because i’m not intentionally “watching” it, i don’t notice it.
overall, good experiment…learned stuff…need to work on stuff…
worthwhile.
Brett! Thanks for starting the conversation. It’s interesting that you noticed the quick point from Pastor Albert’s sermon, because it was so quick, but it was probably the thing that stood out to me the most that day. As for the experiment, I must confess that I found it really difficult to slow down and failed to do so several days. I also found that at least two times I fell asleep while in the middle of the quiet. When I did take the time to slow down I really enjoyed listening to birds or just taking deep breaths and appreciating how God has created something so simple/complex as our respiratory system that I always take for granted.
A few thoughts that came as a result of the exercise:
1. Where are my priorities & how busy am I, that I am forgetting to take the time to slow down?
2. I need more sleep
3. On the days that I did take time to slow down I really enjoyed it!
4. Thankful that God has brought this topic up and that He continues to extend grace and the reminder to try again.
As I work in the field of addressing substance misuse issues, I’m interested in how effective therapeutic approaches often sync with ‘Biblical’ practices. One such is ‘Mindfulness’ which comes out of Buddhism, but echoes with the contemplative tradition, the need to ‘Be Still’, taking thoughts captive, and the exhortation to consider nature around us when appreciating how we are cared for.