Talking Heads have a song called “No Compassion.” One of the lines in the song, “They say compassion is a virtue, but I don’t have the time,” was the inspiration for the title of this week’s article.

We’ve all heard the saying that patience is a virtue, right? We usually hear it when we are being impatient. Somebody will remind us, and usually at a time when we don’t want to hear it.

This article is going to look at patience in a busy world and where we can find rest.

“A Big Damn Hurry”

“The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.” This line was uttered by Brooks Hatlen in The Shawshank Redemption. I can’t help but feel that he was right. This movie was set in 1954, over seventy years ago. It has only gotten worse since then. I can’t imagine what Brooks Hatlen would think if he saw the world today.

I experienced a small example of what I am talking about the morning after I put together the draft outline of what would eventually become this article. I was on my way to work on a single lane road. It wasn’t exactly a main road, and there were twists and turns throughout. About five hundred feet in front of me was a school bus with three cars behind it. About five feet behind me was a black Bronco Sport. It was so close that all I could see were the headlights.

I was doing about one or two miles an hour over the speed limit, so I wasn’t crawling along. I wasn’t going too fast either because I knew the school bus was ahead of me, and I wasn’t going anywhere.

The moment we got to a passing zone, the Bronco swerved beside me, hit the accelerator and sped past me. The man looked over at me as he passed me, as if I was somehow in the wrong.

For the rest of our journey together he remained right in front of me in the line behind the school bus. All we did was swap places. What was the point? He knew the school bus was there. Why the impatience? Where did he think he was going? His maneuver gained him ten feet.

I am just as guilty as the next guy. A couple of weeks later, while driving home on the same road, I was stuck behind a white van which was going under the speed limit, and I caught myself wanting to get around him. What was my hurry? I was just going home and I didn’t have any plans. I was just in “a big damn hurry” for no reason.

I am willing to bet that everyone reading this has had these same feelings while driving. This is just one small example of a larger problem. I’m sure it happens to all of us throughout our days, and not just when we are driving. In line at the store, for instance…

Today’s Fast-Paced World

We live in a fast-paced world. We can travel anywhere in the world within a matter of hours, and we can communicate instantly with anybody all across the globe, no matter where they are. We can buy almost anything and have it delivered the next day without any effort on our part. We don’t even have to leave the house.

Those are some of the benefits of today’s technology. However, this technology comes at a price.

You would think that fast travel and quick communication would free up more time so we could relax and take time to reflect. However, just the opposite has happened. We have more free time than anyone else in history, but how do we use it?

We feel that this technology gives us more time to get more things done, so we stay on the move. Instead of slowing down, we speed up even more so we can squeeze more into our already busy lives.

Not only do we not take the time to recharge, but we get impatient at those who are not moving as quickly as we are. We feel like people who might not be in “such a big damn hurry” are getting in our way, or holding us back. But what are they actually holding us back from? Is it really that important, or are we just impatient?

We have come to see impatience as the virtue, and we get upset at others who don’t feel our sense of urgency. Impatience has become a sign to us that a person has ambition, drive, or determination, and we see that as a positive. We see those who aren’t in a “big damn hurry” as lazy or without direction.

Rest in Christ

But when you think about it, that is just living; it is not life, and that is a clear distinction that I think we should all focus on. All of this rushing around is not good for our mental health. But more importantly, it is not good for our spiritual health and our relationship with God.

Psalm 37:7 tells us to wait on God, but it is so hard to slow down when we have been programmed to keep going.

How do we settle down and find rest in this hurried world? We first need to reprioritize our lives by putting God first. We need to spend time with God and in His Word every day. We need to find what works for us. There is no right way or wrong way, as long as we make the time. It has to be a conscious effort.

For me, the best time is in the morning: I take a shower, grab a coffee, and open the Bible. That helps to get my mind in the right place. For others it might be at the end of the day when they are winding down. The point is we must make the effort to slow ourselves down.

When we start to get frustrated at others, we need to look at them and remember that they were made in the image of God. We are to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience and bear with one another (Colossians 3:12-13) because God has been extremely patient with us.

Patience is not only a virtue, it is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). When we are in the Spirit we will grow in patience. In fact, James takes it further than this, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4 NKJV).

When we focus on Christ we will find our rest. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). Augustine sums it up like this, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him (Psalm 62:5).

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