My middle son is in the final lap of getting his driver’s license.  Any parent has to have crazy thoughts of what that means:

• Insurance rates
• Gas prices
• Added driver (for family errands)
• Coming manhood

Many many things run through one’s head.  Here’s been a lasting thought … Speed Kills.  I don’t say that to speak death or to drift towards a horrendous thought. But reality is twofold: every parent thinks about what could happen, and speed kills.

A champion within the Gathering and I took our photo near the words – HUSTLE and GRIND.  I get our culture’s use of them from a work ethic standpoint, but left to themselves they are dangerous words.  We are and were designed for rest.  God created … and then He rested.  Jesus did miracles and ministered on the deepest levels … and then He rested.

If you look at the rhythms of the son of God, it’s easy to deduce He rested, and then life and engaging people came from that. He didn’t work to rest.  Busyness is a badge of honor in our current culture. When a friend or acquaintance asks how we are doing, we often say “I’m busy.” That has nothing to do with how one is?  If it does speak to how one is doing, the answer is likely not good.  We want to feel important, we want to feel needed, we want to feel productive.  Can you say “chicken with your head cut off” or “on the hamster wheel?”

I’ve always loved the quote about whoever wins the rat race is still a rat.  In Luke 10, Mary and Martha make it very clear what Jesus wants.  He wants you and He wants me.  Unencumbered!  No strings.  Nothing else.  Your heart, my heart and a place of rest.  How are you resting?  Maybe the better question is what gives you life?  What satisfies your soul?  Ask that regularly throughout your day, and plan it out in your week and month.

A great hack I stumbled upon decades ago through my time with Young Life is to look at your day and calendar in 15-minute segments and 4-hour time blocks.  Most of us give 2 chunks of 4 hours (some days 3) to work or toward community activity.  There are still some good 4-hour chunks available through our days and weeks. And 15-minute increments are available more often than we realize.  An appointment where the other person runs late.  Doctor’s visits where you sit.  Picking up kids from practice.  A meal or activity going shorter than you planned.

What do we do with those time slots?  Again, what breathes life into you?  What soothes your soul?
Answer and form your life around those questions. Because …
Speed kills!