“Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry,because I never undertake more work than I can go throughwith calmness of spirit.”
~John Wesley (as quoted in Ordering Your Private World)
Why was Wesley okay with “haste,” but avoided “hurry“? What’s the difference?
How can we accomplish our work with “calmness of spirit”?
Probably has to do with walking by the Spirit instead of in our flesh — that is, being spirit controlled.
But I don’t have it all figured out!
To me, the “Haste” would be the necessity to complete your task, and the “not in a hurry,” would be Not to get sloppy, and not to WORRY as you work.
I love the idea of not undertaking more than you can do with “calmness of spirit.”
A whole new idea for us Americans.
Janis
This question rose for me while reading lord chesterfield’s letters. I think working with a sense of urgency possibly a defined deadline or schedule for completion of a task would be haste. Where as hurry is a state where task is being performed is rushed or hurried resulting in defective or imperfect output. ???
Interesting distinction. Thanks for offering your thoughts in response to this post!
Haste implies the absence of procrastination but hurry is the urgency to get over with the job somehow so as to atttend to some other contingency or avoid something unpleasant.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply!
Haste is Biblical Hurry is worldly- robs the spirit of peace .