What’s the Hurry?

The Omega Writers conference last weekend was great. Held every two years, this in-person gathering promises good teaching on writing craft, encouragement, inspiration, solidarity, prayer, worship, laughter, tears, books to buy, and possible critiques on your writing. It’s an amazing, albeit intense, experience.

That last bit is still hanging around for me. It was a full-on forty-eight hours, and I feel the need to decompress. I’m still working out what my stand-outs were, let alone how I want to use them in my writing. There were lots of great things shared across the weekend: ideas for using humour in your writing, ways to keep Christ front and centre on the writing journey, reflecting on your values as a writer. Good stuff.

The standout for me, so far, is the need for breathing space. And I don’t just mean taking a day off, or sleeping in, or doing self-care—though I’m a fan of all those things. I mean addressing the underlying, relentless sense of hurry that eats away at my brain and soul.

Hurry can come from many places, including society, our environment, traffic noise, people around us. Speaking for myself, hurry comes from my perfectionistic personality. My head is teeming with constant to-do lists, all the things that could and should be done. The problem with this is the Perfectionist is never satisfied; no sooner do I accomplish one thing then the Perfectionist has the next project all lined up. There’s just no pleasing It.

I have lived with an unrelenting sense of mental hurry my whole life.

Conference hit the ‘pause’ button for me. I was locked away in a beautiful place for a long weekend, nothing but God and writing to think about, no one but writers to talk to. Themes of rest and space came up in conversations, workshops and worship songs (the latter of which I chose some time ago as conference worship leader). Friends recommended books on the subject of rest to me.

Suddenly conference was over and it all seemed like a blur.

I struggled to pinpoint what I had got out of conference, but I realised my takeaway was not so much a speaker’s soundbite or a great workshop, but more an abiding sense of God’s invitation to pause. That’s what I’m sitting with today: that desire to pause, to be still, to even risk boredom, so I may risk actual connection with God. Maybe he’ll say something. Maybe I’ll get an idea. Maybe we’ll just sit in companionable silence.

It’s all a bit countercultural in our modern society that prizes busyness and productivity. But sometimes less is more. Sometimes it’s healthy to ask ourselves, in a non-rhetorical fashion, ‘What’s the hurry?’ I’m going to start today with less: less hurry, less clutter, less need for anyone’s approval. I’m going to create space for God, for myself, for creativity. Who knows what God may do?

Do you find it hard, like me, to step away from hurry? Is there anything that helps you to do that? Has God ever met you in spaces of stillness and rest? Share your story. Let’s have a countercultural conversation.