Cover It With Love

“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. The book I read right before I took off on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2023.

Even the title felt like a calling.

At the time, I was living in our little travel trailer in Dripping Springs, Texas, teaching a course at Endeavor University based on the book.  I was surrounded by nature, wide Texas skies, and simple living. As I reflect on that time from our Class C RV in Eureka Springs, AR, I find hurry trying to sneak into my soul.

Isn’t that something?

You can slow down your location and still have a hurried heart.
You can simplify your surroundings and still have a mind racing ahead.
You can be sitting under oak trees, drinking coffee in the quiet, and still feel the pressure to perform, produce, answer, fix, plan, and hurry.

That book title stayed with me because it did not say, “Manage hurry.”
It did not say, “Reduce hurry when convenient.”
It said ruthlessly eliminate it.
And I have come to believe hurry is one of the great thieves of the spiritual life.
Hurry steals presence.
Hurry steals peace.
Hurry steals our ability to hear the whisper of God.
Hurry makes people feel like interruptions instead of divine appointments.
Hurry convinces us that faster means better, fuller means richer, and busy means important.

But Jesus never seemed hurried.
He was often surrounded by crowds. He was needed everywhere. People were sick, desperate, hungry, confused, and searching. And yet Jesus moved with the calm authority of someone fully surrendered to the Father.

He stopped for the woman who touched the hem of His garment.

He welcomed children when others thought they were an inconvenience.

He sat with the broken, ate with sinners, withdrew to lonely places to pray, and slept in a storm.

Jesus was never careless with time, but He was never controlled by hurry.

That truth followed me all the way to the Holy Land.

Walking where Jesus walked has a way of rearranging your inner life. The stones, the roads, the sea, the hillsides — they all seemed to whisper, slow down and notice.

Notice where He taught.
Notice where He healed.
Notice where He wept.
Notice where He prayed.
Notice how much of His ministry happened along the way.
Not rushed.
Not frantic.
Not striving.
Just fully present to the Father and fully present to the person in front of Him.

And maybe that is what our hurried hearts are truly longing for — not just a slower schedule, but a more surrendered soul. “Abiding and living out of The Spirit”.

Small space. Simple rhythms. Fewer things. More sky. More quiet. More awareness of what actually mattered.

Hurry is not only about how full our calendars are. It is also about what has taken over our hearts.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

He says, “Come to me.”
The invitation is into trust.
It is into a life where we are led by the Spirit instead of driven by pressure.

A life where we can be productive without being frantic.
A life where we can serve without striving.
A life where we can love without rushing past the very people God placed in our path.

So maybe today the invitation is simple:

Take a breath.
Put the phone down.
Step outside.
Pray before you respond.
Listen before you speak.
Let someone finish their sentence.
Read Scripture slowly.
Sit with God without an agenda.
Be where your feet are.

Because hurry may be normal in our culture, but it is not the way of Jesus.

And if we want to follow Him closely, we may have to ruthlessly eliminate the things that keep us from noticing Him.

Not because we are trying to create a perfect life.

But because we are trying to live a present one.

A surrendered one.

A Spirit-led one.

A life where peace is not something we chase, but Someone we walk with.

Reflection Question:
Where has hurry been stealing your peace, your presence, or your ability to hear God?

Prayer:
Father, slow my heart to the pace of Your love. Teach me to walk with Jesus, not run ahead of Him. Help me release the pressure to hurry, strive, and prove myself. Give me eyes to see the people in front of me, ears to hear Your whisper, and a soul anchored in Your peace. Amen.

With love,
April
Coveritwithlove.com