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Daily Devotional July 8, 2022

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only
to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5, ESV).

     I received an unwelcomed visitor the other day. A June Bug chose to make company on my nose. The insect’s decision proved to be unwise, as I unceremoniously swatted it to the ground.

     June Bugs are a misnomer. They actually time their arrival each year in July. June Bugs one of 350,000 species of beetles. 
 
     I don’t care for beetles much. They are pests and can wreak havoc on a gardener’s trees and plants. I am fascinated, however, with the Tiger Beetle. The Tiger Beetle runs ten times more swiftly than the fastest human. The problem is the insect is blind when it runs. At it top speed, the
Tiger Beetle does not receive enough photons to see.
 
     Some days, my sense of hurry has a similar impact on my capacity to perceive what is going on around me. Being hurried is not the same thing as being busy. Being busy is being occupied, having many things to do. Being hurried is doing things quickly, in a rushed manner. Jesus was never in a hurry. He did a lot during a typical day, yet he gave others his undivided attention.

     I worry about a doctor who is so rushed to get to the next patient that she may miss an important clue about a patient’s condition. Or a teacher who hastily works through a series of math problems that he fails to notice the class is not keeping pace. Or parents who hasten to beat the crowd to the restaurant after worship that they leave one of their children behind at church. (Yes, I can attest this actually happens.)
 
Dallas Willard once wrote:
Hurry is the great enemy of souls in our day. Being busy is mostly a condition of our outer
world; it is having many things to do. Being hurried is a problem of the soul. It’s being so
preoccupied with myself and what myself has to do that I am no longer able to be fully
present with God and fully present with you. There is no way a soul can thrive when it is
hurried.

The adage continues to ring true. Speed kills. Hurry inflicts damage to the relationships we have
with the people we cherish the most.

     Many of us would benefit from a less frantic pace. Take a lesson from a fast-moving bug.  Slow down. You will be grateful for the blessings you see all around you.