lin·ger·ing
ˈliNGg(ə)riNG/
adjective
adjective: lingering
lasting for a long time or slow to end
to remain or stay on in a place longer than is usual or expected, as if from reluctance to leave
There is a buzzword these days that to be honest is sickening to me.
I am guilty of using it and having it on deck the moment I enter into a conversation.
Some times it shows up even when it isn't necessarily the truth, I use it because it acts as a blanket of excuses to cover up why I may have failed to stay in relationship with some one.
You use it to.
I would bet more than you think you do. I would bet that you also display it proudly at times like a first place ribbon.
The word BUSY.
Even when you read the word you cringed a little.
Before you freak out and think that I am encouraging laziness or complacency by combating BUSY hear me out. The BUSY I am talking about is the rushing from seemingly insignificant task to seemingly insignificant task and hurrying out of conversations and interactions with people. The BUSY I am talking about is activity and not productivity. We should all be accomplishing our dreams and working hard in whatever it is that we do, but we don't have to be BUSY while we do that.
Maybe you cringed thinking about all that you needed to get done today or how you hate that feeling.
In our lives as a generation and the crazy fast pace of life the idea of busy has become the norm. Some how most conversations I enter into go the same way for the first few minutes:
"Hey man! Long time no see!"
"Ya man! How are you?
"Good bro! How are you doing?"
"Good! How have things been lately?"
"Oh You know, BUSY. How about you?"
"Oh ya man I know what you mean! I have been BUSY here lately too."
Did you see that! It just slipped in there?! I don't know if you are guilty of this like I am but as soon as I say the word I feel this relief inside me like I have met some unspoken expectation of society.
I am BUSY. I am doing things. I am a contributing adult. I am going places. Look at me, I matter.
For me this is an identity issue that I constantly have to be working on, that my value and worth and position in life and in the Kingdom of God all revolve around me BEING a son, and not DOING things.
In the hustle of BUSY we have lost the art of LINGERING.
As a generation we don't LINGER like generations before us did. It was an art to them.
We RUSH, they LINGERED.
My Grandma and Grandpa own a little ranch in the mountains and they have taught me so many things about the art of LINGERING. When my wife and I visit we are forced to learn to LINGER. No cell service, no wifi, just family, the mountains, and God. I have spent entire days at the ranch where nothing major was accomplished in the sense of tasks, but skyscrapers of relationship were erected in no time at all due to the art of LINGERING.
A single conversation that lasted all day, a thread of thoughts and stories that wove themselves deep into my heart and knit me together with family. Hours not spent but invested. Conversations not shallow like desert soil but teeming with life like the rich dark earth of the rainforest. LINGERING.
BUSY is not an art. It is a sick and cruel addiction that sucks the life out of us while not contributing anything of meaning or value to those we love. It steals us away and RUSHES us from moments with others. It hinders our ability to bring Heaven to Earth.
The last two weeks I have found God teaching me about this idea and inviting me to incorporate it into my life.
The invitation is to LINGER in prayer, to LINGER in conversation, to LINGER in thought, to LINGER with those we love. To LINGER, not RUSH.
Maybe if we would LINGER in our time with God we would listen long enough to hear Him speak.
Maybe if we would LINGER in our time with others we would get beyond acquaintance and find a life giving friend.
Maybe if we would LINGER in prayer we would see things around us changed.
Maybe if we would learn the art of LINGERING we would save our souls from the disease of BUSY.