Unhurry Up™ #100

Well, after 100 Unhurry Up™ posts, it's time to take a break - yup, that's right, I need to unplug and spend some focused time on revisiting many of these suggestions and reflections for my own life and livelihood.

If you have read all 100 of these over the past several months, then my hat's off to you: pat yourself on the back - take a bow - reward yourself with a nice long nap on a hammock! Thank you - I'm honored that you've journeyed with me whether I've heard from you or not!

If you've attempted to be engaged with more than 50% of these you deserve a reward. Seriously! Write me and tell me how engaging with these posts has increased your ability to love and be loved by God - and I'll give you $10 off a day reFresh!

I've tried to live every post I have suggested - with much incompleteness and failure. I find it very easy to live a virtual spirituality - much more difficult to live an actual one! But I desire to live fully present - more in love with God, myself and others because I've taken the time to unhurry up.

This journey all started from a quote by John Ortberg:

"Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. It is because hurry kills love that it is the single greatest detriment to the spiritual life." (in The Life you've always wanted)

I still believe this is true. I still long to eradicate hurry from my heart, soul, mind, strength and living and especially my ministry. Somedays it is beyond my control, but most days it means making a simple choice...a choice that boils down to LOVE or hurry. I hope to err on the side of love. Erring on the side of love vs hurry is like swimming upstream - most of society is positioned against unhurriedness and champions, awards, touts, and pressures us toward busyness - especially, and if not moreso, in ministry. We are the proverbial frog in the kettle - "busy" seems benign at first, but when it reaches a boiling point, we're cooked!

As Eugene Peterson says, (my very loose please don't quote this but I'm too lazy and unhurried to go look it up right now paraphrase) - Busy is to pastor as adulterer is to spouse and embezzler is to banker - it's just not an adjective you want to have describe you....
Okay here's the real quote:

"...the word busy is the symptom not of commitment but of betrayal. It is not devotion but defection. The adjective busy set as a modifier to pastor should sound to our ears like adulterous to characterize a wife or embezzling to describe a banker. It is an outrageous scandal, a blasphemous affront" (p. 17 in The Contemplative Pastor).

Please feel free to revisit the tips anytime in the archives of this blog...there's plenty to keep both you and I busy...um, er, I mean, spiritually attentive ... for a long time. In the meantime, I'll be laying on my hammock, reading, hiking, writing and not blogging for a few weeks.

Again, thanks for journeying with me in these Unhurry Up™ posts - if you have comments, questions, concerns or want to even share which one has stuck with you and impacted your life the most, please do so with comments below! Selfishly, I'd love to hear how these little musings have helped you to be more centered, focused, at rest and fully YOU - the beautiful You God has created and adores!

And don't forget the reFresh retreats, spiritual care coaching and resources that will help foster unhurried space in your life and ministry! I'd love to have you join me this fall. Check back with the website for updates and/or come be a fan at my facebook page for reFresh or you can also follow me on Twitter - after I have a little digital sabbatical, that is.

TTFN - and may you unhurry your way into a great fall season!
Oh and before I go - let me leave you with a terrific Unhurry Up™  theme song...

Groovy!

~paula

Unhurry Up™ 

www.mysoulrefresh.com