“Hurry up,” I told my son Luke, who was four years old.

We were on our way to church, and as usual when you try to get three children under the age of five out the door, we were behind schedule. He quit playing, and we all got in the car.

“Hurry, please,” I later intoned as we walked up the sidewalk. Luke was busy looking at the birds, trying to jump and skip at the same time, and listening for the church bell. He looked at me as if I was very strange, but he listened.

We made it inside the church, sat down, and Mass began. At the end of the homily came the expected whisper.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

So we went. I waited as Luke went into a stall and spent a minute or two trying to get the sliding lock to work. Finally successful, he went about his business and soon came back out. I turned on the sink for him, and waited…and waited…and waited.

“Come on, Luke. Hurry up!”

“Why?” he asked as he turned to face me with a look of puzzlement.

Of course I explained that we needed to get back to church to worship with our church family, but his question shook me just the same.

Why hurry? I tried to look at it from his point of view. What is more exciting to a four-year-old? Playing with water in a sink or being quiet and still for an hour in a church full of people? Children, especially young ones, like to move at their own pace, usually a slow one. They do need to learn to respect other people’s needs and time restraints, and how to be a part of larger functions, this is true. Yet I had to wonder – had I made “Hurry Up” my life’s motto?

We hurry to the store, we hurry to church, we hurry through our chores, we hurry up and eat. How often have I hurried myself or my children, without realizing that I was missing the joys of the moment? Besides that, what am I hurrying to? Perhaps it is the sense of accomplishment that comes in knowing how much I achieve in one morning or one day or one week. I sometimes forget that there are rewards in taking my time, in accomplishing less, but experiencing it more.

This attitude even spills over to my prayer time. I know as a parent that it is important to be grounded in prayer. But my life is so full – work, children, spouse, home, friends, and all each of these things entail. My prayer time often becomes one more item on my list of things to do. One more thing to hurry through so I can get to the next job.

Jesus tells his disciples that “…whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it” (Mark 10:15). After observing my own children, I can imagine how they would enter the Kingdom of God. They would look around in awe, stop to smell and touch each flower. They would sit and carefully stare at each new thing, taking it all in. They would find each new person they encountered a fascinating person who needs to be talked to. I know this, for this is how they live now.

I know I need to slow down, as well. So many things in my life are little things, not really as important as I make them. They are things of the earth – “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”. As a parent, I learn much from my children. This, however, seems to be one of the bigger lessons: to stop hurrying around and to take delight in what, and who, is around me.

The next time you find yourself in a hurry, stop and ask yourself if it is really all that important. Take a moment to breathe and to notice the world around you. Make some time for your children to show you how to enter the Kingdom of God, right here, right now. You will be glad you did.

home      back to archives