“Hurry is not of the devil, Hurry is the devil.”

Carl Jung

Grace and peace, saints.

The lack of love that Paul speaks of in 2 Timothy 3 can be seen in the impatience that characterizes today’s technologically advanced world, and the fact that we lack the vocabulary to express patience, even if we were so inclined.

Today I was at the grocery store cashier’s counter standing behind an elderly woman with a walker.  Seeing me behind her, she tried to hurry and put her things into her shopping basket, as she had many items.  I wanted to tell her “you don’t have to hurry,” or words to that effect, but a suitable German equivalent would not come to mind.  When I came before the cashier, I asked her how one says, “Don’t hurry,” or “There’s no need to hurry” in German.  She speaks very good German as well as English, so I felt relatively comfortable asking her this. 

Well, she seemed totally flabbergasted by this question, and even a bit annoyed.  I don’t think it was the question that annoyed her, but the fact that she couldn’t answer it.  In fact, I have asked this question of several people, and not one of them could give me an answer.  What the cashier ended up telling me was that one could say, “Slowly” or “Not so fast.”  But there was no phrase that she could think of that was a polite way of saying “There is no need to hurry.”

Isn’t it strange that so many people would not know how to tell someone that there is no need to hurry, when one so often finds oneself in this situation?  Now the Langenscheidt German-English/English-German Dictionary says that the German phrase meaning, “There is no hurry” is es eilt nicht, but I have never heard this phrase used, which is why I never knew how to convey this sentiment.  Now it is not so strange that I don’t know how to say this, as I’m not a native or even near-native German speaker, but it is very unusual that many with a very good command of the German language don’t know how to say this. 

I asked my children how one would say this, and they instantly said, du must dich nicht beeilen:  (literally, “you mustn’t hurry yourself”).  But they said that they have only heard this from their schoolteachers and administrators.  Like me, they had never heard it from their classmates or people on the street.

What is interesting is that Munich residents, much like the residents of New York,  are known for being rude and impatient.  But it struck me that this would be reflected in the language.  The fact that the phrase exists means that at one time it was important to be able to express this sentiment.  That almost no one knows or uses it (at least those whom I asked or with whom I come into daily contact) can be seen as evidence that it is no longer important to express this politeness.

This is proof that we are indeed living in the times which the apostle Paul called the “last days,” as men no longer care for one another and are always hurrying one another, rushing to and fro in their frenzied haste to go nowhere at all.  Conservation of movement is seen as lethargy.  As we have become “better,” “stronger,” faster,” and “smarter,” we have grown colder, and the little niceties that characterized our dealings with strangers are now seen as quaint, old-fashioned, and impractical.  Politeness is disparaged, and evil, immoral people are exalted and idolized, while decent people are defamed and seen as fake, hypocritical, and even dangerous.  Indeed we have become “haters of the good.”

It is because of Jesus Christ, dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit, that there is any peace in the world at all.  Now, more than ever, we Christians have to be lights in our communities.  The Bible says that the unsaved are wise to do evil, but ignorant to do good.  It is we, then, who should be the resident experts on goodness, seeing as how the Lord Jesus, who is Good, lives in us.  We have to counterbalance the anger, hate, rage, and violence that we see around us with the love of Jesus Christ.  Christian love, understanding, politeness, and patience must characterize all our dealings with men; even our enemies.

Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

The Still Man

Copyright 2011-2012 Anthony Keeton, The Still Man ®.  All rights reserved.