The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry is a guide to discovering how to live a life like Jesus lived. The author' voice is engaging, his anecdotes filled with wisdom. I appreciated the interesting history of our present concept of time and how modern society has mangled the Sabbath. Society boasts of busyness. This book exposes the wisdom, grace, and power of patience, rest, and reflection. I will definitely read this again and again. Those looking to live a powerful life will enjoy this book. An added note: the index of referenced material is a treasure trove of additional reading on the subject.

I cannot say enough good about this book! It was such an easy read with so much truth and practical application for living a life based on the practices and habits of Jesus. I found this book to be inspiring, perspective shaping and I loved the authors style of writing. He adds wit and humour to every page but it doesn’t take away from the very important truths expressed. I would recommend this book to everyone I know because “being busy” is an epidemic that needs some healthy perspective.

Definitely on trend and yet a refreshing read on the topic. I just loved it; both the content and the conversational prose. The author leverages his story as a pastor of a Megachurch to communicate why hurrying just cannot be a sustainable lifestyle, if one is looking to have a spiritual life, if one is looking to develop and grow a relationship with God one needs to spend time with Him, we need to allow Him to talk to us, to guide us. In describing his lowest point and the journey he has taken since then, the reader is encouraged to make important changes in one’s life.

It resonated when the author indicated that Hurry kills relationships, gratitude and joy. Having already embarked on the journey of slowing down, I concur. He invites us to savour and enjoy the now, to slow down and simplify our life. He quotes Anne Lamott,” No, is a complete sentence.” How many of us need to learn how to say no, kindly but firmly in order to achieve the life we really want?

Rather than being disciples, he describes the followers of Jesus as apprentices! He reminds us to live into both our potential and limitations. He asks how many of us are prepared to adopt the life of Jesus? While we aspire to His leadership style (He is about love, joy and peace. He is about example and invitation), while we admire who He is, the lifestyle He practised is not one that we naturally look to emulate. There is just too much pressure to give in to worldly pressures, to pursue worldly goods. I enjoyed this thread that ran throughout the book. It is both challenging and reassuring to consider that a balanced lifestyle is based on biblical truth. However, the author is not shy of leveraging other sources to build his arguments. He also quotes studies and research that dovetail with these spiritual teachings.

I have read that boredom is a catalyst to creativity and here the author describes moments of boredom as opportunities for prayer. It’s so contrarian to how I was raised (ie: The devil makes work for idle hands)

The value of the Sabbath was espoused and it becomes quite clear that this is so much more than just taking a day off. The busier we get, the more effort we need to make to ensure we have enough quiet times for prayer and to stoke our spirits. We need the time to breathe.

There is a chapter full of rules/suggestions on how we can make changes that will help us to slow down. While helpful, the gentle and humorous writing style ensured that I digested them in the way they were intended, with a couple of chuckles along the way. Oh, how I wish checking email once a week was a possibility! Not in my chosen profession, but I can schedule times to pay attention to mail and use the time in between to work on projects and not be distracted!

I highly recommend this book and am sure I will revisit its contents.

With thanks to NetGalley, WaterBrook & Multnomah and the author for my free copy to review in exchange for an honest opinion.

LOVED this book. This book starts out with the "problem" of the culture of hurry and hustle in our current world. It then moves onto the "solution" with Jesus. John Mark then writes on four practices that he has found helpful to fight against this epidemic. He provides very practical steps to take to engage in the active resistance to what our culture is telling us. I felt so at peace reading this book and want to shape my life to be like John Mark's, who is shaping his life to mirror the practices of Jesus.