Crazy Busy, by Kevin DeYoung

When I saw the title - Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem - I knew I wanted to read Kevin DeYoung's latest book. Why? Because, as he correctly assumes, I (along with pretty much every other person) feel crazy busy and would like not to feel that way. And sometimes it takes a book to slap us in the face and change things. And sometimes you read something because you know you ought to, because you know you have a problem and the reading of the book may or may not have a big effect. As DeYoung also points out, it's hard to figure out the balance (he's still trying) and slowing down the pace is going to have to remain a busy work in progress.

DeYoung assures the reader from the get-go that he is absolutely not writing this book because he's got all the answers on how you can simplify your life. This, more than any other book he has written, is personally directed at himself. His life is full and he doesn't really know how to fit in all of the activities. Writing the book slowed him down, briefly, but he is not perfectly relaxed, calm, cool and collected. He still wants to be.

My husband Jonathan and myself are both go-getter first born types, full of ambition and drive to make things happen . . .  NOW. We're not good at waiting (for ourselves or others) and our to do list looks powerfully amazing and oh so very long. We just don't know when to call it quits and rest. Rest is practically a four letter bad word. (Ok, ok, it is a bad word.) We drive ourselves crazy. Crazy busy. And it's not good. (This is one reason I recently deactivated my Facebook account, by the way. The computer and I were too attached and needed some space.)

In this book, DeYoung overs a small handful of reasons as to why we keep ourselves so busy. The chief reason being pride which exhibits itself in various ways. One particular area that he notes (that I, uh, sort of identified with) is a desire for prestige.

"If I keep pushing myself, I'll finally be somebody. I'll finally matter. I'll finally arrive." Nonsense. You won't be satisfied. The only thing worse than failing to realize any of your dreams, is seeing them all come true. You were meant for something more. Even if you could be known the world over, what does it matter if you have no time to be known by God." (Chapter 3, The Killer P's, p. 37)

As much as I can know myself, I don't blog about books online to be known by others. However, there is a part of this activity and the format that enjoys being noticed. (No need to stop commenting to "teach me a lesson" or anything. You can still be my friend and all that.) But it is easy for me to get caught up in the idea that I have to post something here or else I'll start losing my audience. As DeYoung points out, online social networking causes us to care more about 1,000 people we don't know than a handful of people who rely on us daily for everything. When the blog gets more attention than my household does (and it was doing that for awhile) then I'm in the wrong when it comes to sitting down and writing up blog posts. This is an area that I definitely have to pay focused attention to make sure that it isn't just a job (that doesn't pay!) but something that is truly an enjoyable outlet for me that doesn't detract from my responsibilities and joys in caring for my home and family.

Another reason he lists for us (speaking generally) being busy is that we have our own little messiah complexes. "If I don't do it, who will?" We assume that projects and activities require our personal involvement to succeed. DeYoung references a sermon he once heard given by a Gordon Hugenberger. The topic of Hugenberger's sermon was John the Baptist's statement, "I am not the Christ." DeYoung points out that John the Baptist freely confessed that he was not the Christ and yet we frequently assume that we are. We think we can do anything, be involved with everything and be all to all people and the plain fact of the matter is that - we can't! DeYoung encourages us to also freely admit that we are not the Christ, but that we do need Him.

We are, as a society, too busy. And because we're so busy ourselves we expect everyone else around us to be also and to respond to our needs and demands promptly so that we can continue on in our important busyness. When we send e-mails, we expect instant answers. DeYoung encourages us to not only slow down our own pace, but give leave to others to provide slower responses to e-mails, texts, phone calls, etc. Give grace because you also need grace. He also offers practical advice such as intentionally not using modern technology. Give up Facebook for a day or a week (or forever) and pick up the phone instead. Don't text or pull up your smart phone every two seconds to see if anything dramatic changed in your screen world. Back away from technology just a tad and see how much it allows you to breathe and do the things you truly need to be doing - the best things - instead of filling up your time with shallow banter.

Mostly, what DeYoung does is point us to the only hope for a cure from the overwhelming stressful busyness is to set aside time for Christ.

"It's not wrong to be tired. It's not wrong to feel overwhelmed. It's not wrong to go through seasons of complete chaos. What is wrong - and heartbreakingly foolish and wonderfully avoidable - is to live a life with more craziness than we want because we have less Jesus than we need." (Chapter 10, The One Thing We Must Do, p. 118)

I did indeed find this book to be mercifully short (10 very quick and short chapters) with some good food for thought on how to intentionally slow life down, taking time for much needed rest, to set priorities and to seek Christ first, always and at all times. If you're busy in a stressed out and unpleasant way, I would recommend this book just to get you think about what it means to be good busy and how to eliminate the bad busy from our extraordinary and altogether glorious lives.

Many thanks to Crossway Books for providing a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. My thoughts, should you doubt it even a little bit, are always entirely my own. I have received no further compensation for writing this, excepting the encouragement to slow down. And I have to do that anyway because at the conclusion of writing this post my internet connection slowed down to the speed of a snail on sleeping aids and I'm being forced to sit still for longer than I intended.