Hustle

In this our lives today - we hustle. We drive fast. We rush thru errands. We are pressured in our jobs to do more, faster, with less help or resources. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to push a river because it's not moving fast enough.

In the midst of the fury that is life it comes to me every so often...is this what God wants for us? A search of the Bible, of course, brings up a plethora of suggestions. This one really hit me:

To fulfill our purpose by the power of God's Spirit, and to live by faith and grow - romans 15:13 & philippians 2:13

Hmmm...

Why is it that we hustle anyway? I know society puts pressure on us to do more, be more, do all the things, be all the things. At the end of an average work day I get home barely able to crawl into my house. The energy I feel compelled to expend leaves me on an empty tank, with only a few hours to refill that tank before it starts all over again.

So why do I do it? Why do we do it? Sure, society puts this pressure on us. And it is our choice to accept the challenge.

What is our motivation? Certainly God doesn't want us to crawl into our homes at the end of day. What am I missing during the day? What are we missing?

It comes to me like a bolt of lightning - prayer. Pray during the day - seems so simple. Yet in the hustle of the day we have to carve out the time to do it. 

I'm not talking about finding a place to kneel in supplication and humility. I'm talking about taking a moment to quietly sit and say a small prayer. Thanking God for the blessing of:

• a good job
• health
• friends
• intelligence
• knowledge
• safety

The list could go on and on. A simple "God, thank you for my health today" and you've given a moment over to God. It's all he wants from us and for us.

To be closer to him. To talk with him. To reach out to him. Even in a moment that requires a "God, please help me get thru this" and he will be there.

He is always there. In every moment. Even when we don't acknowledge him or are barely aware of him.

How lovely it would be to stop the hustle - and take a mere minute to turn to God. Maybe after that the hustle won't feel so enervating, the hustle won't actually feel like - hustle.