The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

(Just realized half stars are an option on here!) This was an awesome book for Christian readers. I am Catholic, and I found the quotes that John Mark Comer used throughout the book to be worldly and relevant to probably all sectors of Christian thought.
I think it was well done and really made me think about my life in the context of resting, praying, and living in a way that is good for my soul. I recommend this book to any Christian! (I would perhaps not go so far as to recommend this to a non-Christian because Jesus comes up A LOT.) Though I do think that the insight from this book extends beyond Christian belief into just what it means for us as a society and as individuals to be so rushed and how we can slow down. I need to take the advice. I will likely read this book again sometime.

I struggled with the star rating on this book, waffling between three and four. In the end, I settled on four because I think Comer’s insight into the world of rush is spot on.

At this point in my life, when religion comes up, I usually tell folks I’m a non-practicing Catholic, but really I’m much more agnostic. I’ve tried atheism, but it didn’t fit me. I just kept talking to the universe. It’s my lack of Christian faith that had me leaning toward the three, but this book isn’t written for agnostics, even spiritual ones, so I went with the four.

Comer divides this book into three parts: The Problem, where he defines hurry, its history, and symptoms; then The Solution, where he discusses the need to slow down and the benefit of an easy yoke; and finally Part 3: The Four Practices for Unhurrying your Life.

Ironically, I found more solutions in part 3 than in the section titled The Solution. At first Comer talks about boredom, something we’ve lost touch with and some youth have never really experienced, then he moves into the four practices: Silence & Solitude (a crux of this is clarifying the difference between solitude and isolation - Hurried people are often isolated even during a quiet time), Sabbath (literally meaning to stop and delight), Simplicity, and Slowing. (The five S’es?).

Comer states that not every idea in this book will work for every person, but he encourages his readers to take away what they can fit into their lives. For myself, I’ll try to practice some sort of sabbath, which might look a lot like brief meditation breaks - no electronics, no headphones, no screens, just stopping everything and delighting in where my brain takes me.

One final take away from this book is that a life of hurry and a life of love are incompatible. We cannot hurry through appreciating each other, so it is incumbent upon us to slow down, so we can love each other.

Side Note: Social media doubles down on hurry and restlessness. It might provide a nice jolt of dopamine, but it provides no love.

This was a really good book. It started with making the case for why elimonating hurry is a spiritual discipline because after all can you imagine Jesus ever hurrying? It makes the case that we should read the gospels in a new light, not just ethical or theological, but read them as a biography, read them through asking the question how can I adopt a lifestyle more like Jesus so I can get the results he got? And it unpacks the verse about the paradox of the light yoke to explain how Jesus actually intended for us to do that.

Then a lot of the book goes through the different ways in which the modern life is all about hurry and stress and business and lust and materialism. This part wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either to be honest because of course I already know all that. For me it was preaching to the choir. Nonetheless there was some great facts in there.

The last part has a really awesome list of practical suggestions to put this into action. Loved it.

This book is changing how I’m living and it has spurred so many conversations. It’s one of very few books that I would actually recommend to almost anyone.