Suddenly the campsite is full, tents packed in tightly, reunions with fellow campers from previous years, children on the beach rock pooling, teenagers hanging out by the charging area. Tom is overwhelmed, too many people, too much noise and fearful of the teenagers who loiter happily in groups reminding him, unwittingly, of school bullying. We have suggested some strategies, long route to the loo, ear plugs at night and we’ll head off site for a walk later… the island has many peaceful spots.
I have reached the section called ‘Solution’ in ‘The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry’. John Comer’s (slightly irritating) response is simply following the way of Jesus. I can’t help but want to shout back “that’s what I am trying to do!!” but of course once unpacked it is not so cliche and has many helpful insights.
He suggests that we must begin, first though, by accepting our limitations. This is something that has so often come up in our group conversations at Church Without Walls – the importance of contentment that comes from an acceptance of limitations. There is, of course, a tension between encouraging aspirations (becoming the people God has called us to be, using our gifts, not being limited by our circumstances etc) and accepting who we are (not constantly wanting to be more, have more, become more, the better job, the more successful church, the fitter body etc). As John says very well:
“One of the key tasks of our apprenticeship to Jesus is living into both our potential and our limitations” p61
I was struck by the importance of limitations in our world where ‘everything is possible’. How do we value what we have when we constantly see the possibility of having more? That culture of accumulation whether it is material of experiential is everywhere and can lead to that classic millennial problem of FOMO (fear of missing out) and an endless hurry to cram in every possible thing so we get more, experience more and so (we think) live more. What John is claiming is that this very anxiety leads to an overpacked life where we in fact often live less. We simply can’t do it all and accepting that, and maybe embracing it, is key.
One of the joys of returning to the same small island every year is the limitations of our time here. There are, as I have said before, limited choices and that very limitation slows me down. Do I walk one way round the island or another? Do I visit one of the other small islands and walk round that instead? Do I swim at the campsite or walk over to the beach at Covean? Small, limited choices that shape the day.
I am very aware as I write this, though, that some of the limitations in our lives are ones we should collectively push against: the limitations that society imposes because of class, wealth, ability, race. There are many limitations that are imposed externally and we need to find a way that both means we collectively challenge those limitations while finding a way to accept our own personal limitations.
Part of recognising the limitations in our lives is also about recognising the choices we are making. I make the choice when I am at home to often spend my free evenings slumped in front of the TV watching some detective programme or other. When I am on holiday I, instead, read and knit a lot. I have more time on holiday but equally I have plenty evenings I could spend reading rather than scrolling through Facebook while simultainously watching TV. We have choices, some of us have more choices than others, our sense of hurry and being burnt out isn’t all about time but is also about our use and choice of what we do with the time we are given.
I find is easy to slow down when I am sitting on a small island listening to the waves in the background and the sound of the birds, it is much harder to do so in the midst of normal life:
“How do we slow down, simplify, and live deliberately right in the middle of the chaos of the noisy, fast-paced, urban, digital world we call home?” p70
I think this is a great line, not easy to live by but one to remember:
“Every day is a chance. Every hour an opportunity. Every moment a precious gift.”
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