Busy. Busy. Busy. I used to give that answer when someone asked me how things were going. Now that I’m retired, sometimes I still give that answer! How about you? Has your life become moving from one event to another, seemingly without a break? This month we have a book that might help you. It’s called Crazy Busy, written by Kevin DeYoung.

The subtitle will help you think that you probably need to hear its message: “A mercifully short book about a (really) big problem.” This is an easy-to-read book with lots of good ideas and things for you to think about.

DeYoung begins with explaining some dangers that we need to avoid with our busyness. It will ruin our joy, our heart, and our soul. These are spiritual dangers. He says, “When we are crazy busy, we put our souls at risk. The challenge is not merely to make a few bad habits go away. The challenge is to not let our spiritual lives slip away.”

From there, he provides a diagnosis in each chapter that will help you evaluate why you do all the things you do. These are really challenging! He begins with the whole issue of pride, with what he calls the Killer P’s that arise from that basic sin: people-pleasing, pity, poor planning, power, and many more. He concludes that chapter with a challenging question for your evaluation that needs an honest answer: “Am I trying to do good or to make myself look good?”

There are some really good chapters to help you diagnose your problem (assuming you will admit there’s a problem!). Here are some of the highlights:

• A Cruel Kindergarchy: You need to stop freaking out about your kids. That’s diagnosis #4. It might hurt a little!
• Deep Calls to Deep: You are letting the screen strangle your soul (#5). This is the one that hurts me. He talks about the domination of technology in our busy lives.
• Rhythm and Blues: You’d better rest yourself before you wreck yourself (#6). It’s not about music, it’s about having a lifestyle that schedules regular rest.

His final chapter will remind you of what is most important. Do you know what that is? Using the story of Mary and Martha (Martha was too busy to listen to Jesus), he reminds us that we need to have

a priority. It’s not family, it’s not work, it’s not success. It’s all about taking time to be with Christ. This question from DeYoung should nail it down for you: “But out of all the concerns in our lives, can we honestly say and show that sitting at the feet of Jesus is the one thing that is necessary?” Notice he says say and show. It’s easy to say it. But do we show it?

There’s probably not too many of us who don’t need this message. So find some time in your busy life to get it under control by reading this book. Don’t let busy, busy, busy, be an answer you give to the question when someone asks you how’s it going.