Unhurried Living | Helping Christians Rest Deeper & Lead Better

Well here we are in December. The Thanksgiving holiday is behind us and the Advent and Christmas season lies ahead. We hear the songs that are calling this the most wonderful time of the year, but it can sometimes feel like the busiest and most hurried time of the year. There are just so many details to solve, so many social gatherings, so many responsibilities. We can end up feeling so rushed that we’re unable to settle into the good news that this season is all about. And what is it all about? Jesus has come to be “God with us.” Immanuel. In my hurry, I forget that God is always with me thanks to the gift of Jesus’ life and the empowering presence of God’s Spirit helping me experience his presence. So, as a way to help us enter into this “God-with-us” reality, I want to share some thoughts about how to unhurry our holidays. A few years ago, when An Unhurried Life was published, I contributed to an article for the Christian post titled “Top 10 Ways to Have an Unhurried Christmas Season.” I’m going to take some time here to unpack those 10 ways in this episode. Now these suggestions are not meant to add a whole lot more tasks to your already-too-long holiday to do list. I’m hoping instead that you’ll find one or two of these ideas to be a way to approach this holiday season from a different spirit—with a more unhurried, relaxed, and peaceful heart. Our Ten Ways to Unhurry Your Holidays Summarized: Enjoy a few sips of your morning coffee or tea for five minutes without doing anything other than enjoying the moment. Take an evening walk in your neighborhood and enjoy the decorations that may be up. Make it a stroll. Feel the crisp air on your face. Engage all of your senses. As you are preparing to buy a gift for someone, slow down enough to ask yourself, "What would they enjoy? What would bless them, encourage them, enrich them, help them?" See if you can resist the temptation to make gift purchasing an exercise in efficiency, but rather an offering of love. Slow down enough to look a salesperson in the eye and thank them for their help. Bless them in the midst of what is a likely a very frantic season for them. Give yourself the gift of one morning to wake up without an alarm clock going off. Take a moment at the end of a day to think back over it. What are you grateful for? Say thanks. What was hard? Ask for help. What do you wish you did differently? Ask for forgiveness. Take the opportunity to spend a little time with someone whose needs are greater than yours. The needs might be financial, emotional, physical, etc. At a Christmas party or holiday gathering, be more present to others by listening well to what they are sharing. Ask questions that express interest and care. Take a moment to read the story about the birth of Jesus (Lk 2:1-21). The prophet Isaiah described Jesus as a child who would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Which of these names hits closest to home for you? Carry it with you through this holiday season. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The ultimate reality is that we are loved by God, just as we are and as he made us (our true self). However, as we grow up, and over time, we begin to construct a false self. The false self is who we wish we were. It is the person we want others to think we are. We compensate for a world that is not what we thought it would be. Over time, we begin to believe the false self is actually us. But we grow tired under the weight of that mask. We need a way to come back to the true self and become more free. The Enneagram is a tool that helps us make our way into that process. Many times a day we move from true to false and back to true again. It is an ongoing process. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this episode, we are talking about pain and loss. It is an inevitable part of all of our lives. We want to try to give some perspective on pain and how it can actually be viewed as a grace. If you are in the middle of deep pain right now, I’m sure that the word “grace” is not on the tip of your tongue. We are so sorry that you are so heavy and burdened right now. We hope you can hear this and tuck it away for a day when the pain or trial has subsided. Or maybe it will help give perspective in the midst. That would be our hope. You’ll see, in the stories we share today, that we have been through our own times of pain…trial…suffering…whatever you want to call it…difficult circumstances. We all go through times like this. Some of what we share today is from Alan’s book, An Unhurried Life, in a chapter titled, “Suffering: Unexpected Unhurrying.” One of the first books that Elton Trueblood wrote was titled, “The Essence of Spiritual Religion.” You can think of Trueblood as sort of the “Dallas Willard” of the early and middle part of last century. Listen to what he says along the lines of our theme today: “We know persons who have had new insights into the richness of life after the death of a much-loved child. We know many who have been struck by a loathsome disease and yet have so lived through the misery that the very disease has become an instrument of God’s grace. That is another way of saying it has become a sacrament. It is our task to oppose evil, but God, by His great mercy, is clearly able to lead us on to new heights by means of evil experiences if we are willing to open our lives to the divine influence. There is, then, a very deep sense in which anything at all can become an instrument for the enhancement of the life of the spirit.” Anything that has happened in our lives, no matter how hurtful or even evil, can actually become prayer when we bring it to God. God can work in absolutely any situation to redeem, to heal, to restore, to “grace” our lives. It’s our hope that you might find your way to bringing everything in your life, and especially those hurtful and broken places in your story into the presence of God’s grace. Be honest about how it hurts. See Jesus and his empathy for you as he himself suffers on the cross out of love for you and me. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Alan and Gem discuss developing a personal rhythm of life. It’s a practice they both have worked on over the years in their own spiritual journeys. In fact, the ideas shared grow out of a training piece Alan has shared with hundreds of leaders over the years. It’s one of the ways we can rise up out of the hurried and compacted world in which we live into a place of greater perspective and freedom. That’s always one of the ironies of freedom: It is not really something you can pursue directly. Freedom is the indirect fruit of discipline. We give examples of the Rhythms of Life of William Wilberforce, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr. And we’ll even share a brief version of our own Rhythms of Life. And we end with some great questions you can ask yourself as you create your own Rhythm of Life. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Alan Fadling talks with James Bryan Smith about his latest book, The Magnificent Story. We unpack what it means that the gospel of Jesus is good, beautiful and true here and now, not just someday. James Bryan Smith is the author of the trilogy: The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful Life, and The Good and Beautiful Community. He is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. He also serves as the director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation at Friends University. A founding member of Richard Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovaré, Smith is an ordained United Methodist Church minister and has served in various capacities in local churches. His recent book is The Magnificent Story. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today we are going to talk about practicing the presence of God in the midst of our real, and sometimes busy, lives. First by looking at Psalm 84, then we’ll move into the Stages of Competence, and, finally, ending up with seven practical tips for taking 5 minutes to become present in the middle of a busy day. If you want to read the transcripts for this podcast, you can access the content here: [Psalm 84: The Presence of God] (http://unhurriedliving.com/psalm-84-presence-god/) [Presence and the Stages of Competence] (http://unhurriedliving.com/presence-stages-competence/) [Take Five: 22 Simple ways to Enjoy God's Presence] (http://unhurriedliving.com/take-five/) Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this mini-sode, Alan shares a way of praying scripture that has become an important part of his spiritual rhythm. In a sense, it’s not just about “me praying scripture.” It’s also about God’s Spirit praying scripture into me. It’s a way of not only thinking about and studying scripture, but also letting scripture soak into my being—into our emotions, our intentions, our perspectives, our deep beliefs. It’s a way of encountering God in scripture. At the heart of his mini-sode is a six-minute guided prayer in Psalm 16:5-9. 5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. 8I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure… Subscribe to our emails for weekly inspiration, tips and resources. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

BREATHE is a practice you can engage, for about 5 minutes, at any point in your day. It’s a helpful process of re-focusing and re-engaging. You can take a moment to breathe and to find some inner stillness in God’s presence. You can quiet your mind and heart for a moment and emerge refreshed and ready to move into your next task or conversation. It’s very difficult to be truly productive when you feel scattered or hurried. Mini-retreats like this can help you slow down, remember God's care, and bring you back into the moment. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today, I talk with Suanne Camfield, author of The Sound of Million Dreams: Awakening to Who You are Becoming. You’ll enjoy our engaging conversation on the themes of: Being, Presence, Comparison, Becoming, and Truth. This is the passage from Suanne’s book that made me want to talk with her: “…the stirring was a moment: an awareness of the holy in the midst of the every day that simultaneously brought clarity and chaos to my space in the world. A feeling: of perpetual pressing, pushing, and pulling that happened and continues to happen all at once, a mystery not unlike the way we say the kingdom of God is both now and not yet, both here and yet to come, both with in us and among us, that was compelling me to do something. The vision: pathway for the future who’s specifics I couldn’t catch sight of but was certain existed nonetheless. And longing: an ache to offer a piece of myself to the world that held within it to the smallest hope of leaving a mark. An invitation: a solicitation to view life through a new lens, a kindling that burned so deeply I’d spend the next 10 years trying to figure it out. A calling. A dream. A gift. There was something I was supposed to do. There was a person I was supposed to become.” (bolded emphasis mine) If you recognize that moment, feeling, vision, longing and invitation, you’ll benefit from Suanne’s insights. And at the end of the podcast Alan & Gem drill down into Truth with a capital T and how opening to truth can lead to new places of healing. Suanne Camfield is women’s director at Christ Church of Oak Brook as well as a writer and speaker. She is also a founding member of the Redbud Writers Guild. Suanne frequently teaches communities of all ages at her church. She has written for multiple publications and was a contributor to the Every Day Matters Bible. Her latest book is The Sound of Million Dreams: Awakening to Who You are Becoming. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today we are talking about Solitude and Silence or what we call Unhurried Time with God. But this is not just a “you should do it” talk. We are going to share stories from our own lives. From early on in our own experience and one from within the last month. We share these with you so you can see how we started out. We were in our late 20s and were just beginning our process of solitude and silence. Many of us unconsciously resist solitude because we don’t actually want to know what is going on inside of us, much less show it to God. We are also afraid of what he might say. Might give an assignment. Might express disappointment. We are hoping to encourage you to take whatever next step makes sense for you, whether this is a new practice or not. It’s ok to acknowledge that you are afraid. It’s ok to take a step toward broken or wounded parts of yourself. Our experience is that, if any of that stuff comes up in a time of solitude, that God is gracious. He will most likely meet you in that place in a way that is do-able for you. We have found that God meets us right where we are. He is not trying to cause further damage. He wants to bring healing. He wants to show you the depths of his love. But solitude and silence isn't only about facing ourselves. We have found that very often God simply wants to let you know how much he loves you. You can find rest, refreshment and new energy for your life. It is ultimately about relationship, however, and that should always be the focus. Simple presence. God with you and you with God. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.