Busyness, for me, had become a way to reclaim my worth and make myself feel productive. So I slowly had to work through lessening the number of things I was willing to put on our plate and sort through this with my husband as well.  

Jonathan Pokluda did a sermon on busyness earlier this year. His main points were that busyness is the enemy of encouragement, focus, and empathy. All 3 of those things are crucial to building relationships. He says, “People become distractions to your list of things to do when you are busy.” That’s super unloving. But how do we make the shift? 

The book The Art of Neighboring says, “Love always takes time, and time is the one thing hurried people don’t have.” So I had to say no to some things so I could say yes to intentionality with my neighbors.