Unhurried Living | Helping Christians Rest Deeper & Lead Better

This week, the Unhurried Living Podcast begins an occasional series based on the book Gem and Alan wrote two years ago: "What Does Your Soul Love? Eight Questions That Reveal God’s Work in You".   This important book, at its heart, is a basic assumption that Gem and Alan have lived with for decades... God invites us to change over our lifetimes.   Biblical language for this change is “being transformed.”  ** God is seeking to transform our more selfish tendencies into more loving and selfless ones.  ** God is seeking to change our perspectives from despairing to hopeful, from fearful to kingdom confident, from anxious to peaceful.  ** God seeks to transform the focus of our work so that it is more rootedness in kingdom values and kingdom goals.   Change like this is good news.We invite you listen and enjoy.  Learn more about Alan and Gem and Unhurried Living.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

One of my favorite Dallas Willard quotes is this:“The path of spiritual growth in the riches of Christ is not a passive one. Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. Effort is action. Earning is attitude. You have never seen people more active than those who have been set on fire by the grace of God.” (CHRISTIAN HERALD (U.K.) 14 APRIL 2001.)That’s good stuff, isn’t it?People often mistake an unhurried life as one of shorter to do lists and greater passivity. That is absolutely not the case. We continue to point to Jesus as our WAY of life. Jesus engaged a full and active life, but he was not hurried. Likewise, we can be outwardly active and inwardly unhurried.This gets to the idea of “effort as action” that Willard suggests. We need not earn anything. This is the grace about which Willard speaks. The wider context of this quote is grace, but I’d like to focus for a moment on the specific idea of “effort” under grace. What does that look like?Connect with Gem on Instagram or visit her at the Unhurried Living website. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

If you’ve walked in snow you know the feeling of being the first to step in the untouched wonder. As we enjoyed our winter walk, we came up on a patch that felt a little unwieldy to me. So I asked Alan if he would go ahead of me and test out the path first. That’s a great wife move, right?!As I looked down at the path that Alan was creating for me with his big boots, a random thought about leadership slipped into my mind. It didn’t take me long to realize that it was the spirit sharing with me an early life lesson.Enjoy this episode of I Can Do That!Follow Gem on Instagram or learn more about her at Unhurried Living Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Remember when devices were not omnipresent in our lives. Life before email, before text messages, before mobile phones and personal computers. It feels like a completely different era of life and hard to remember what it was like.  There is so much that our devices do to serve us. And they are wonderful when they serve, but not so wonderful when they become our masters.  Today on the Unhurried Living Podcast, we’re talking about a new book from Felicia Wu Song, "Restless Devices", helping us  identify how our devices have a way of making our lives more restless than restful.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In episode #2 of this podcast I introduced the posture of transformation: open, aware and willing. (Or OAW for short). Today I’d like to look at the humble way of transformation. And it’s three words you hear me say at the end of every episode: small, simple and gracious.When it comes to change, herculean moves rarely keep us on the path. Sure, we may have some audacious goals. I know I do. But how do you reach a goal? You take one step at a time. Especially if you are working on your inner growth process. Changing old patterns is a long and, at times, arduous road. That’s why we go slow and we keep it small, simple and gracious. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today on the Unhurried Living Podcast, we’re talking about the spiritual practice of silence. We’ve heard lots of authors and spiritual writers talk about how important the practice of silence is, but a whole lot of us struggle to figure out exactly how that might work in our actual lives.   We feel too busy. Or we feel there’s too much to do to spend any significant time alone and quiet. But the practice of silence is a place where we learn how to listen well, how to be more present to God, to others and to our own actual thoughts and intentions. It’s a place where we let the swirl of thoughts and feelings that fill us to gradually settle until we can be just a little more receptive, attentive and responsive to God. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today I’m offering five simple dynamics to engage as we move into 2022. And, I know, I’ve used a corny rhyming pattern for them, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m hoping this helps you retain what I’m sharing. It’s time to…FeelGet realKneelHealMake a deal I told you it was a corny rhyme. But there is nothing corny about taking care of yourself, body, mind and soul.   Follow Gem on IG @gemfadling or learn more about her work at Unhurried Living (maybe even join her in a community or coaching group). Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today's Unhurried Living episode is on a theme that a lot of us work pretty hard to avoid: aging. We’d much rather talk about how to stay young than address the realities of growing older. I celebrated my sixtieth birthday this year. It was the first decade birthday that has had a lingering impact on me. Thirty, forty and fifty came and went for me, but sixty has been a year of reflection and many questions.  So today I'm chatting with Alice Fryling, spiritual director and author, on her latest book, "Aging Faithfully". I hope you find it as insightful, encouraging and hopeful as I did, no matter what decade of life you are currently in.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Well, we’ve made it through 2021. I don’t know about you, but this year seemed to fly by compared to 2020. Time is funny, isn’t it. It’s actually moving along at the same pace all the time, and yet our perception of it shifts.   We haven’t figured out how to stop time…yet, but I’d like to offer a practice that can help you capture more meaning out of the time you have. This is a great end of the year process and it’s very simple.   A few years ago I was listening to an interview with public radio personality, Ira Glass. He was talking about the process of good storytelling. And it all came down to two words: ACTION and REFLECTION This makes sense, right? We do something and then we reflect on it. We act and then we ponder the action’s meaning. But here’s the thing…we aren’t a very reflective society and most of the time reflection falls by the wayside. Learn more about Gem  on the Unhurried Living website and follow her on Instagram.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Love is our focus as this is now the fourth week of Advent. I trust over the course of our Advent weeks together you have enjoyed sinking further into the love of God, the grace of Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Is your heart a little more ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus? Today I simply invite you to enjoy another imaginative prayer. We’re going to picture ourselves at the beach, my favorite place. And we’re going to engage the invitation to drink deeply of God’s all-encompassing love. Learn more about Gem  on the Unhurried Living website and follow her on Instagram.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.