Unhurried Living | Helping Christians Rest Deeper & Lead Better

Today, I’m sharing a conversation I had a while back with Mark Scandrette about  his book, The Ninefold Path of Jesus. In it, he shares his experience of seeking to live more deeply and faithfully into the nine beatitudes that begin what some call Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In his book, Mark shares a beautiful vision of what it might look like if we practiced the beatitudes as a way of following Jesus more closely and faithfully.  I love how Mark casts a vision for the kind of life Jesus considers blessed. So often, the culture around us suggests that the good life is in achieving more, or acquiring more, or impressing more people. But Jesus seems to say that a life of abundant goodness is found somehow in being more like him. He lived an abundant life. His way of treating people was remarkable. He was full of love, of joy, of peace, of all the things we seek. It’s good when we let Jesus define what a good life for us would be like.  We invite you to connect with Mark on social media on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

When was the last time you had a leisurely conversation? Do you find yourself talking fast, and cutting people short so that you can get on with whatever you were doing? It’s not your fault, it’s in the cultural air we breathe.We may assume that others are busy and we are likely in their way. Or we think the same about ourselves: I don’t have time for this!Most people these days don’t have someone who just simply listens to them. Many are over-connected on tech gadgets and yet are starving relationally. Listening is one very practical gift we can give to our fellow travelers that may soothe their soul.  Connect with Gem in a variety of ways:InstagramFacebookUnhurried LivingReplenish Community Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this week’s episode of the Unhurried Living podcast, I’m talking with Mike MacKenzie from Marble Retreat in Colorado about the issues that lie under our issues. He’s written a book called Don’t Blow Up Your Ministry that highlights how we sometimes think that if only we could solve our tiredness or our struggles with temptation we’d be all set, when in fact there are often deeper issues that are draining us or making us more vulnerable. For example, Mike shares that a lot of us in Christian leadership have an immense amount of intellectual knowledge of spiritual disciplines, of spiritual formation, or of any number of good things for our souls. But, the challenge is that we know them but don’t act on them much. Jesus said something very interesting in the Upper Room after he’d washed his disciples’ feet. He said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (Jn 13:17).”  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.

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.

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.

In the last chapter of An Unhurried Leader, I talked about the difference between our working for God and working with God. There is a way for us to do our work in a way that imagines God is elsewhere, assigning us work to do but mostly waiting for us to do it ourselves.   It’s a beautiful thing to realize that whatever our work, paid or freely given, we can do our work with God. We aren’t alone in the work we do. Our work is simply one more way we can live our lives in collaborative friendship with God.   That's where we are headed on this week's episode of The Unhurried Living Podcast. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.