Living Unhurried #53

Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and listen to this song, A little longer by Jenn Johnson



What strikes you about God's invitation? How do you want to respond to Him?

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Living Unhurried #52

Try to find a sunbeam to soak in today...

For five minutes, let your body be warmed by the sunshine. Breathe deeply and rest in His enveloping presence. Maybe even take a little nap. But if you do, remember to wipe off the drool before you go back to work or out on errands.

Enjoy the day and carry His Presence with you as you interact with others. To quote my friends Jim and Rich at Crosspoint ministries: The greatest ministry you can have is bearing your presence from having been with God, to others.

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Living Unhurried #51

Mid-morning: Take a 10 minute break where you can saunter or find some quiet space (perhaps even while you're driving - turn the radio off). Pay attention to your soul and ask yourself: "How am I really feeling? Lighthearted? Heavy-hearted? At peace? Distracted? Worried? Angry? Afraid? Hopeful? Numb?"

Then acknowledge how you really are before the Lord - it is the real you (not who you think you need to be) that He loves.

Let yourself be embraced by His Love - 

• receive His lack of condemnation (Rom 8:1) ; 
• let yourself experience how you feel with God being for you and not against you (Rom 8:31); 
• thank Him that your feelings cannot separate you from His love (Rom 8: 35, 38-39).

Continue to find spaces in your day to offer Him how you really feel...you may even ask Him, "Lord, what is at the root of these feelings? What am I afraid of? What is the compulsion behind my weariness?" etc

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Living Unhurried #50

Picture of John, the Beloved, at Mt. Angel Abbey

John was known as the beloved disciple. It wasn't a phrase others called him. It is how he referred to himself...the disciple Jesus loved...(John 13.23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20). He experienced a deep affection from Jesus that impacted his core identity - how he saw himself. It also was so essential to him that his heart message to the world is about Love: Loving God and loving others (read 1 John - love is mentioned over 30 times in this one short letter).

Today, as you transition between tasks, or driving between places, take a few deep breaths and repeat one of these phrases:

• "Abba, I belong to You."
• "Papa, I am your beloved."

Listen to any internal resistance, excuses or "yeah, but's" If there are any, repeat this verse: "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1) and I am in Him and beloved by Him.

At the end of the day reflect back on how this impacted your attitudes and actions throughout the day. What did God reveal to you about Himself? Yourself?

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Living Unhurried #49

Take this advice found on a poster in Powell's Bookstore, Portland Oregon!

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Living Unhurried #48

"On the day of Judgment, God will only ask one question: Did you enjoy my world?"

Traditional Jewish Saying

As you get to the end of your day, reflect back on how you enjoyed your day? 

• What parts of your day made you feel fully alive? 
• What parts seemed to drag you down? 
• Are you too busy to enjoy the beauty of spring? Or your family? or a leisurely home cooked meal? 
• What might help you enjoy tomorrow?

Lord, I want to enjoy life 

rather than skim it.

I want to behold Your beauty - 

experience the complete joy You lavish.

Help me walk tomorrow with an attitude that life is a gift

One to be opened, delighted in, enjoyed.

Help me to see each task, each person, each obstacle

as Your invitation to trust You, enjoy You, love You.

I need You - fill me with a desire to enjoy 

each breath

each flower

even each person who cuts me off in traffic;

each moment of inspiration,

each dreary, seemingly mundane task.

Oh Lord, establish the work of your hands...

In Your presence is fullness of joy.

Amen

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Living Unhurried #47

Take 10 minutes before leaving work/starting dinner and linger with this website, letting it guide you in prayer - http://sacredspace.ie/

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Living Unhurried #46

"Consider the birds of the air, the flowers of the field" (Matthew 6: 25-34)

So often Jesus refers to common everyday things for us to "consider" - to pay attention to. In these simple acts of awareness, God often reveals something of Himself to us. And often, as in the case of Him asking us to consider the birds of the air and flowers of the field, He reveals something to us about us (in this case our tendency to worry about food, clothes and missing out in life.)

Take 5 minutes today to stop and listen to and/or watch the birds. Or stop to smell your favorite budding spring blossom. Ask the Lord: "What do you want to reveal to me about yourself? About myself?" Let Him, in this unhurried moment, invite you further into His transforming love.

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Living Unhurried #45

Author Anne Lamott writes about our true wealth:

"...there is nothing you can buy, achieve, own, or rent that can fill  
up that hunger inside for a sense of fulfillment and wonder. But the  
good news is that creative expression, whether that means writing,  
dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost  
everything that he or she has been searching for: enlivenment, peace,  
meaning, and the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty.

"...the bad news: You have to make time to do this... What  
manic or compulsive hours will [you] give up in trade for the  
equivalent time to write, or meander? Time is not free - that's why  
it's so precious and worth fighting for.

"I think it [fighting for time to really live life] is going to hurt. What fills us is real, sweet, dopey,funny life. I've heard it said that every day you need half an hour of quiet time for yourself...unless you are incredibly busy and stressed, in which case you need an hour. I promise you, it is there. Fight tooth and nail to find time, to make it. It is our true wealth, this moment, this hour, this day."

See the whole article in the April 2010 Sunset magazine here

• In what ways are you trying to "buy, achieve, own or rent" things in order to fulfill your life?
• What time will you fight for this week?
• What might you give up for a half an hour/day of quiet time for yourself?

Remember when you say "no" to something, you are creating space for something/someone better.

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Living Unhurried #44

If we let ourselves marinate in our restlessness and dissatisfaction - if we slow long enough to pay attention to the deeper cries of our souls - we often discover a beautiful longing for a deeper, more intimate, fierce and free life. This longing is the best thing about us - calling us to live embracing all of life rather than just skimming the surface of it.

Throughout the day, pay attention to the ways you are restless - in vocation, relationships, with an aspect of your spirituality and soul. Maybe keep a list.

Then sometime tonight, create some quiet space - perhaps light a candle, take a few breaths, revisit what is restless in you  - then ask God to reveal what is the deeper longing beneath the dissatisfaction. Try to "listen" to how he is wooing you to deeper intimacy with Him.

• How is He inviting you to live in relationship with Him that will transform how you interact with the world? 
• What is He revealing to you about Himself? 
• What is He revealing to you about you?

Can you put your longing into words? Or capture it with a word picture/metaphor?

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Living Unhurried #43

"Does your spirituality seem to make your life feel smaller 

rather than making it feel larger?" 

Jeff Imbach, The River Within

Take 10 minutes today and write out a list of how your life is larger, or how you want it to be larger, because of your spirituality. What would it look/feel like to live into these longings? Or, if it feels smaller, pay attention to how you feel about it being smaller. What do those feelings actually reveal?

Hold your heart for a larger life in silence to God's heart for a minute and maybe look at your list daily to remind your heart of it's desire to live life wide open.

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Living Unhurried #42

 "When Jesus peeks in and says 'hi' - examines our 'usness,'

really looks it over, and says, 'I love you' 

then I have real-life...

[my life is reflected in another's eyes].

When he loves us we begin to exist as persons, not things

[i.e. nor merely for our accomplishments, possessions, or who we know.]"

~Brennan Manning in Souvenirs of Solitude [bracketed words added by me]

How might you let God peek into your life and say, "Hi" today?

• Imagine him coming to your cubicle, your kitchen sink, popping out at the drive thru window, walking with you to your car... how does having him notice you as you really are encourage your heart?

• Take a few moments to pop into someone else's life and say "hi" and let them know you love them just as they are - send a text, a phone call, a letter - for it is when our "usness" is reflected "in the glow of someone else's eyes," says Brennan, that we realize our effective essence.

• How does being "noticed" by God or others make you feel?

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Living Unhurried #41

Esther DeWaal, in her book Lost in Wonder writes: "...[find] something that catches your attention and translate it into an image which tells me more about itself and more about my own self, my reaction, my relation to it" (30).

She suggests using the rhythm of a traditional Japanese tanka poem: 5 unrhymed lines -  the syllable counts per line are 5, 7, 5, 7, 7

The sun peeks gently
Alluring blossoms to rise
Alluring my heart
Awakening my great hope
Stirring desire for oneness

The soft morning hues
Gently rouse me to embrace
while I deeply breathe
Wanting to hold this moment
Lingering in the mercies



You get the idea...

She continues, "Having a set form to hand is like having a net, a framework, in which to trap words...and to catch that momentary glimpse, the hint, the elusive moment of beauty or mystery or pain or amusement" (30).

Over the weekend, use the 5,7,5,7,7 rhythm to try and capture the moment in a net. As you ponder what has come forth, ask God, "What are you revealing to me about me? About yourself?"

Please share your creations!

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Living Unhurried #40

"The present moment, like the spotted owl or the sea turtle, 

has become an endangered species."

~Philip Simmons in Learning to Fall, Blessings of an Imperfect Life

Take 5 minutes today in the late afternoon - before you transition from work back to home or perhaps a fe moments before making dinner. In these five minutes, pay attention to the present moment - start by taking a few deep breaths, then close your eyes and use your ears and nose to pay attention (perhaps even invite others around you to join in this exercise. This could be fun for kids too, just ask them to answer inside their own hearts, then you can share about it afterwards:

• Who is around you? 
• What are the the sounds, the smells? Do you like them or dislike them? What do they remind you of?
• How do you feel right now? 
• Ask God to tend to you here now as you sit in stillness, attentive to this present moment. 
• Ask Him, "What manna have you given me today, for today, that I must fold into the rest of this day?"

Breathe deeply and ask for His peace to continue to shine on you as you attend to the relationships and work you have left in the day.

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Living Unhurried #39

Set an alarm to go off every three hours (i.e. 9, noon, 3, 6, 9pm) - stop for 5 minutes, breathe deeply and ask the Lord, "Who may I tend to in prayer?"
Lift whoever comes to mind up by name into the Lord's presence.

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Living Unhurried #38

 
I love this website, www.pray-as-you-go.org with guided reflections/meditations on Scripture. Really cool bells, and music and reflections facilitated by people with really cool accents!

So take a 13 minute break today and listen to today's Pray-As-You-Go - http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/mp3/PAYG_100503.mp3
Consider downloading the week to your iPod or mp3 player for the week and set aside 15 minutes to let your soul reflect/rest in His love each day.

How do you need God to be Your way? Show you the way?

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