Crazy Busy (Kevin DeYoung)

In Crazy Busy, Kevin DeYoung looks at our "crazy busy" lives and offers:

- 3 dangers to avoid
- 7 diagnoses to consider
- 1 thing you must do

Summary
The points provided here are quoted from the book.

The three dangers:

- busyness can ruin our joy [can encourage anxiety, stress, etc]
- busyness can rob our hearts [we focus on the wrong things]
- busyness can cover up the rot in our souls [we ignore big problems]

The seven diagnoses:

- you are beset with many manifestations of pride
- you are trying to do what God does not expect you to do
- you can't serve others without setting priorities
- you need to stop freaking out about your kids
- you are letting the screen strangle your soul
- you'd better rest yourself before you wreck yourself
- you suffer more because you don't expect to suffer at all

The one thing:

- devote yourself to the Word of God and prayer; no single practice brings more peace and discipline to life than sitting at the feet of Jesus . . . [this] is the place to start because being with Jesus is the only thing strong enough to pull us away from busyness.

I'll conclude with one final comment from DeYoung:

Busyness, as I've been diagnosing it, is as much a mind-set and a heart sickness as it is a failure in time management.  It's possible to live your days in a flurry of hard work, serving, and bearing burdens, and to do so with the right character and a right dependence on God so that it doesn't feel crazy busy.  By the same token, it's possible to feel amazingly stressed and frenzied while actually accomplishing very little.  The antidote to busyness of soul is not sloth and indifference.  The antidote is rest, rhythm, death to pride, acceptance of our own finitude, and trust in the providence of God.

Review
Overall, this is a good book.  It's short, humble, succinct, vulnerable, convicting, and funny.  It is organized, though it seems somewhat rambling; it's conversational and real.  I like that DeYoung doesn't set out a rigorous formula or promise to solve anything; he simply points to common factors and reminds us of gospel truths.  Highly recommended.

Rating: A