Larry Dossey, a physician, coined the term “time sickness” in 1982 to describe the obsessive belief that “time is getting away, that there isn’t enough of it, and that you must pedal faster and faster to keep up.”
By that definition, we’re almost all time sick. Who among us isn’t busy and in a rush?
When we were first married and living in Pasadena, California, we attended the same church as renowned Christian psychologist Dr. James Dobson.
One Sunday morning, he made a guest appearance in our newlywed class, and in the context of his lesson, he said something that got the full attention of every neophyte in the room: “Overcommitment and exhaustion are the most insidious and pervasive marriage killers you will ever encounter as a couple.”
We’ve never forgotten that.
In fact, we’ve been working at guarding against busyness ever since.
"When the fire of prayer goes out, the barrenness of busyness takes over."
--George Carey
Once you realize the potential harm busyness can have on your marriage, you become more conscious of how much, or how little, time you have together each day.
No matter how much time stealing, time stretching, and time bending we attempt, we always find ourselves up against a certain mathematical law: Thirty-two hours’ worth of tasks can’t be crammed into a 24-hour day.
So, we are busy. Nobody’s disputing that fact.
The real question is “How busy are you?”
We take that back. The real question – the one upon which your marriage hinges – is “What are you busy at?”
This post is from Drs Les & Leslie Parrott. For more information, go to their website: http://www.lesandleslie.com