Ask someone how they are, and there is a good chance they will say, "I'm busy." Busyness has emerged as the status symbol of the age. Busyness fills every hour of the day with activity pressing out any sense of margin. Many are overcommitted, overscheduled and under fulfilled. The busyness they have embraced is like an addiction draining the soul.

Busyness distances us from the needs of others and distracts us from the heart of God. From the street beggar to the neighbor in need our busyness blinds us to their needs. While we have compassion for their plight, busyness blinds us to their need, and we do not offer to lend our aid. Simply put, we did not see them.

A study was conducted at Princeton Theological Seminary in the early 1970s in which students studying to be priests were instructed that they were to deliver a sermon across campus. Their subject was helping the stranger from the parable of the good Samaritan.

Some were told they had plenty of time to cross campus and were early. The others were told they were on time but needed to go to not be delayed. Some were told they were late already.

What the students did not know was that as they crossed campus they would encounter an actor portraying a person in distress. Sixty-three percent of the students who were early stopped to help the person in need. Forty-five percent of those on time and 10% of those who were late offered assistance. The study revealed one's perceived "time-constraint" played a factor in their willingness to help. (Glen Geher, "My Favorite Psychology Study: The Good Samaritan is in the Situation," Psychology Today, March 16, 2017, psychologytoday.com/us/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/201703/my-favorite-psychology-study.)

Busyness picks up on the internal cue that you have no time. You have no capacity for anything else. Not even someone in need. Busyness distances us from the needs of others and blinds us to heart of God.

To combat busyness practice the art of slowing. Actually drive the speed limit or slower. Get in the longest line at the check-out and then let someone go in front of you. The disciplined of slowing tunes your heart from where you need to get to next to what is happening around you. Margin-less busyness is an addiction. An addiction left unguarded that will drain your soul.