Make Time for Love

Three years ago I learned about the book, “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.” Because of my name, I pay attention to whenever the word “Ruth” is used. Over the years I’ve heard the line “we’re ruthless without you” more times than I could ever count!

Early on in his book, John Mark Comer uses the phrase “Hurry and love are incompatible.”

To say the phrase hit a cord in my soul is an understatement. For the rest of the book, listening to it as an audiobook, I could not forget this sentiment. It was emphatic. It was what my soul needed to hear. It was exactly the point I needed to learn.

I like to be quick. I like to get tasks done swiftly. I like to hear admiration for how speedily I am able to complete a job. After someone requests something of me, I often hear the phrase, “You don’t need to do it right now” and I reply that I do! Otherwise I forget.

However, when it comes to being present with people, with loving people, it is impossible to be in a hurry and love them well at the same time. “Hurry and love are incompatible.”

Love takes attention.

Love takes noticing. Noticing takes time.

I thought of this a lot during the holiday season. My family members that were able to gather in Pennsylvania arrived mid-day the day before Thanksgiving. Why? Because we took our time making pies together. Anyone who’s heard the Ritchie family talk about Thanksgiving has heard us talk about pies. We enjoy pie. We even put our turkey into a turkey pie most years.

And we eat the pie all day Thanksgiving day.

And we enjoy our presence with each other, separating our time from everything and everyone else to be present with one another.

As humans, we are easily tempted into hurry.

How can you plan your year ahead to include presence in lieu of hurry? To be slow in love?

Because, hurry is not compatible with love.

“Desire without knowledge is not good— how much more will hasty feet miss the way!” Proverbs 19:2 NIV