Like Our Hair is on Fire

Have you ever been told, “You’re running around like your hair is on fire!" I confess that phrase has described me perfectly at times in my life. I had a friend the other day say he wants to be a fire marshal and not a fireman. He explained it like this: “A fireman puts out fires after they have started [preferably not in their own hair], whereas fire marshals go around preventing them.” I think we can all agree that we would much rather be a fire marshal than a fireman, but nearly every day the sirens of life go off, and I race to put out the latest fire. I would guess we have all experienced that chaos. 

In 1967, Charles Hummel wrote a short book titled, Tyranny of the Urgent. In it, Hummel makes the point that far too often we exchange what is important and necessary for that which is urgent. Here is a summary of some of the key ideas in his book (I highly recommend reading the full book): 

Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered emails, unvisited friends, unread books, unprayed prayers…these haunt quiet moments when we pause our busy lives enough to reflect on how busy we are. But would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four-hour days? 

Our timeless dilemma goes deeper than a shortage of time; it is a problem of priorities. A manager of a busy factory once said to Hummel: “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” This maxim raises the critical problem of priorities and the importance of setting and keeping them.

We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today or even this week. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study, visit with that non-Christian friend, careful study of an important book: these projects can wait. But the urgent tasks call for instant action–endless demands; pressure every hour and day. We realize we’ve become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent.

Is there any escape from this pattern of living? The answer lies in the life of our Lord. On the night before He died, Jesus made an astonishing claim. In the great prayer of John 17, He said, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” (John 17:4) How could Jesus use the word “finished?” His three-year ministry seemed all too short.

Yet His life was never feverish; He had time for people. He could spend hours talking to one person, such as the Samaritan woman at the well. His life showed a wonderful balance, a sense of timing. When His brothers wanted Him to go to Judea, He replied, “My time has not yet come…” (John 7:6). Jesus did not ruin His gifts by haste. 

What was the secret of Jesus’ work? We find a clue following Mark’s account of Jesus’ busy day. Mark observes that “…in the morning, a great while before day, He rose and went out to a lonely place, and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35) Here is the secret of Jesus’ life and work for God: He prayerfully waited for His Father’s instructions and for the strength to follow them. He discerned the Father’s will day by day in a life of prayer. By this means He warded off the urgent and accomplished the important. 

We may wonder why our Lord’s ministry was so short, why it could not have lasted another five or ten years. Scripture gives no answer to these questions, and we leave them in the mystery of God’s purposes, but we do know that Jesus’ prayerful waiting for God’s instructions freed Him from the tyranny of the urgent. It gave Him a sense of direction, set a steady pace, and enabled Him to do every task God assigned. And on the last night He could say, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.”

The solution that Hummel gives is quite profound to me…we find freedom in setting our agenda on God’s agenda. I have learned that I have to choose to prioritize time for prayer and listening to God or the tyranny of the urgent will squeeze out the most important things I can be doing.  I fear many of us today are slaves to the urgent. Things I want and need to accomplish are pushed aside to deal with the sirens, alarms, and screams of the emergencies and surprises. I hate living this way. When we surrender to Jesus and His plan, it helps us move from putting out fires to snuffing them out before they even get started. May we all choose to live that way! 

This Sunday we are going to have our Hope Ministry Fair. It is a special Sunday dedicated to giving you opportunities to connect more at Hope. The most common excuse I hear for not connecting more is, “I don’t have enough time.” Perhaps this note is a reminder that we need to make time for what is crucial instead of just for what is urgent. I invite you to join me in praying that you continue to find the right fit to serve or connect at Hope. 

Expectantly, 

Shawn