She would have accomplished so much...

Last Tuesday I had the wonderful opportunity and blessing to go out to The DreamGiver's Inn to have some reFresh space for me...no one else signed up for the scheduled retreat, so I received the day to get some uninterrupted space to work on some sorely neglected projects. Within the first 10 minutes of settling into the window seat in the "courage" room, I felt sleepy. My inner task master was angry - I had so much to do - yet all I could do was fight to keep my eyelids open. In the midst of the battle between "doing" and "being" (yes, even I suffer this plight!), a deep malaise came over me. Was it a creative block that I just needed to push through? Or was it best to surrender to my body's need?

Deciding to take the advice I so generously grant others, I lowered down, puffed and strategically rearranged a few pillows and covered myself with the afghan. But I couldn't sleep. Taunted by the creative to-do list of music, writings and curriculum development, my brain was like the energizer bunny after drinking a redbull - way too scattered to contribute well to any one thing. I was so frustrated.

Shortly thereafter my friend Kate arrived - she was going to help me stay to task and get after the writing. She listened...a lot...to my complaints and questions and musings about why I feel blocked and frustrated. She listened well and gently invited me to lie down for 20 minutes. I didn't sleep, but it felt good to close my eyes (evidently giving permission to myself is not as helpful as hearing it from a loving friend). About ten minutes into stilling myself, I looked over to her and facetiously declared (about myself),

"She would have accomplished so much if she weren't so in love."

And there it was.

Love
in Love
so in Love...

My inability to focus - to "produce" and be creative was not so much from a block or a battle between "doing" and "being", but because I had spent much of the last month in love. In an instant I understood, "That's it...that's why I'm so tired."

Yes love rejuvenates and in the midst of encountering love either in giving or receiving, there is satiation and energizing that is beyond description. But, as in those early moments of falling in love where you you cannot get enough hours together with your beloved, there is an exhaustion that follows the encounters. Or when you're loving well by caring for a sick one, like I did for my dying Eddie cat a few weeks ago, you give up "normal" things and responsibilities to be present to the one you love. Between loving Eddie and responding to God's invitation to linger longer than "normal" in His presence, my everyday work and responsibilities have seemingly fallen by the wayside.  And as I pressure myself to catch up, I realize that perhaps catching up is not required. Being present to both the delights and depletion I feel from having encountered love is what is important.

I am in love and have lived well this past month ...and it has been astounding...and costly. There has been shed tears, neglected housework, canceled meetings, and the inability to create what is in my heart to share with the world. But I'd rather choose love - even when that means life looks less productive or organized or polished. Love changes the measuring...in love what is "normal" rarely has anything to do with how much I produce or get done in a day. Love measures how much of myself have I given to the present moment...whether that be in loving God, myself, or others.

Perhaps one day on my tombstone (if I have one - I'd rather have my ashes scattered in a lovely place) it will read,

"She would have accomplished so much if she wasn't so in love."

The world needs more lovers...how do you sense God inviting you to cultivate a life of love?

www.mysoulrefresh.com

The greatest enemies of the inner journey

"[Those who followed God in the desert] believed that the greatest enemies of the inner journey were hurry, crowds, and noise" -Laura Swan OSB in The Forgotten Desert Mothers, 15

Ironically, it seems much of our event planning in the ongoing parade of Christian faith is rushed, crowded and noisy - often just as busy and noisy as the rest of life. It makes me ask the question - are we sabotaging, through hurry, crowded and noisy extravaganzas - especially all the hoopla of the upcoming Christmas season - that which we are deeply longing for in our inner journey?


Anticipating Advent (only 1 week from Sunday away!) - which is a time of stillness, anticipation and expectant waiting (not in-coincidental to the busiest, most boisterous time of the year) consider:

• In what ways are hurry, crowds and noise enemies to you deepening your inner journey? 
• In this upcoming season of Advent, in what ways do you desire to cultivate your inner journey?
• How might some intentional unhurriedness, solitude and/or stillness be welcomed into your daily life?

Listen in for the still, small whispers of God's invitation toward His love. Respect the sacred spaces in your day and in your own soul.

 Unhurryup!™

www.mysoulrefresh.com

Soul space - a fancy way of saying your invisible self needs some elbow room...

This is a repost of a beautiful blog by Emily of www.chattingatthesky.com - I think she is an unhurryup™ kindred:

six things about soul space

July 22, 2010

This week, I have had more time to myself than usual. In fact, I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy more solitude than perhaps ever in my life. I’ve been breathing in the space while, at the same time, grasping for ways to fill it. Isn’t that what we do? My tagline here is ‘a place for your soul to breathe.’ I’ve been thinking about what that means and what it looks like. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Soul space is a fancy way of saying: your invisible self needs some elbow room. That could mean prayer, reflection, Scripture reading, or silence. Or it could also happen in the kitchen or at an easel, in the car or the grocery store. The Bible says we live and move and have our being in him. If he exists in me, then where I go, he goes. Worship isn’t confined to a specific posture or location.

Soul space doesn’t just happen. It is possible to be quiet on the outside but still have a cluttered soul. It is also possible to be outwardly active with a soul that exists in a spacious and enlarged place. We have to choose which path our mind, will, and emotions are going to follow.

Resist the urge to try to force soul space to look a certain way. Things may come up that will disturb, and it may be tempting to think this space is impossible. When interruptions and unexpected things show up , purpose to receive them as part of the process, as a reminder of your humanness, and as an opportunity to set your mind on truth.

In the midst of creating space for your soul to breathe, embrace the unveiling of anxiety. Allow those things that hum under the surface of your everyday activity to rise up from within and offer them to the Holy, Heavenly keeper of all your anxieties. In him is the only safe place.

It takes time to receive space for your soul to breathe. We are so used to moving, reacting, responding and producing. To expect that busy freight train to come to a quick halt is to experience frustration. At the same time, God is not limited by our current life stage. Ask him to miraculously multiply the time you do have in ways that only he can.

Our bodies have to breathe to stay alive, and so does our soul. When I move through my days on auto-pilot, I may be able to survive, but that isn’t the same as living. Surviving says just make it through; living says let’s make it count. Allowing space for your soul to breathe is an invitation to commune with God and one another."

Enjoy creating some intentional and unhurried soul space for yourself today. Thanks Emily - great thoughts!

Unhurryup!™

www.mysoulrefresh.com

"Success" in ministry

This is reprinted from the metamorpha blog.
It is really great food for thought re: our criteria for "success" in church planting/ church leadership. What do you think?

What You Need

by Jamin Goggin

I recently came across an interview with a pastor at an influential church in the United States talking about church planting.  The two prongs of the discussion basically covered successes and failures in church planting.  A large portion of the interview was focused on challenges in church planting and conversely what is needed to "succeed" in planting a church.  The pastor gave a list of three things that are clearly needed for success-(1) charismatic leader, (2) leader who can communicate well, and (3) leader who is adept at strategic thinking.

What I first found interesting was the complete collapse of needs into the Senior Pastor.  A gifted person is what is needed most.  Of course, how one defines "success" plays a large role in these perceived needs.  If we are defining success as gathering the most people as quickly as possible to the church then of course a more pragmatic turn is liable to be taken.  Don't get me wrong I understand that if the pastor cannot communicate, is terribly awkward with people or is not a strategic thinker then the church will face challenges.  My problem is not that the pragmatic is considered, but rather that is the sole concern. 

I do not seek to explore my concerns from an ecclesiological perspective.  I have many.  Rather, I want to approach this issue with a spiritual formation lense.  In that vain, what is striking to me is that while the needs of the "successful" church plant are solely wrapped up in a person, the Senior Pastor, the reasons are not spiritually oriented what so over, but rather are purely founded in natural ability.  Meaning what is needed in the leader most is as skill-set not holiness.  It is shocking to me that of the top three things listed the spiritual health and maturity of the pastor is not even mentioned.  So, what are your thoughts?  This impacts other areas.  For example, what do churches look for when they hire a new pastor?  How do we gauge the value and leadership ability of our pastors?

What three things are needed for "success" in ministry?

1. Love - (1 Cor 13: 1-8, 13; Rev 2: 1-4; Matt 22: 36-40)
2. Humility (John 13: 12-17) - remember Jesus said, "I will build my church" (Matt 16:18)
3. Doing what the Father is doing (John 5:19) (resulting in fruits which seems to be revealed through abiding - John 15: 4,16-17)

What do you think? How might we develop Love, Humility/Servanthood and Abiding in ourselves? Who do you know that walks in love, humility and an abiding lifestyle? Follow her! Follow him!

www.mysoulrefresh.com

Are you skimming your life?

Jean Wise, in her blog, writes about how skimming info on the internet is affecting her skimming life at a more shallow level:

Multitasking. Busyness. Noise.  All modern hassles that I often simply accept, don’t fight, and let rule my life. Part of my survival mechanism, I guess.

But lately I have noticing my reading, listening and even prayer is lacking depth – I am skimming in all areas of my life.

Skimming makes me look like I have it all together and am on top of things, yet something is missing. I am not taking the time to develop deep roots – roots that will nourish me through dry periods and hold me steady during the storms of life.

Pete Scazzero wrote, “Skimming is the way many of us cope with multiple demands, constant pressure, and overloaded schedules. We cover a lot of ground superficially without being fully engaged.”

 Are you fully engaged? Do you actually live life, or just skim it?
How might the internet be affecting your depth of life/living/relationships?


Click Here  to read (not skim, but read and reflect deeply, of course) the blog post in full - a great reflection on living a shallow life, vs deeply connected.

Unhurry Up™

www.mysoulrefresh.com

Part of clergy burnout is lack of physical health

David Gibson, a religion reporter, shares that religious leaders, whether rabbis, imams, or priests, are suffering dire health consequences. Snippets from the article are below:

"God may have rested on the seventh day, but for a growing number of his ministers, there is more work -- and stress -- than ever, and less chance to unwind. That has led to all sorts of health problems among clergy, from a lack of exercise and a rise in obesity to problems of depression and substance abuse and all the many ills of modern life that pastors spend so much time helping their congregants tackle.

"Indeed, even as the folks in the pews head off to vacations this summer, priests, rabbis, pastors and ministers of all faiths often find themselves looking after those left behind and still in need of spiritual support, or using any down time to catch up on the inevitable backlog of administrative work that always takes second place to the care of souls....

"A national survey in 2001 of more than 2,500 Christian religious leaders conducted by Duke Divinity School showed that 76 percent of Christian clergy were either overweight or obese, 15 percentage points higher than for the general U.S. population. And other research has shown that clergy across all faiths are succumbing to higher rates of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and other ailments than their congregants.

"But experts also say the solutions have to start at the congregational level.

Congregants can encourage pastors to take time off, and not view everything in the church as the pastor's responsibility. They can also be sure to provide healthy food at church events. But clergy must also learn find time to exercise or relax, even if it means saying no to some requests. Otherwise, they won't be healthy enough to serve their flock later on."

Are you a pastor?

• what in the article caught your attention? 
• Take 5 minutes and ask the Lord, "How does this connect to my story?"

Are you a congregant? 

• How might you help your pastor have the space to cultivate their own soul care so as to help you cultivate yours?

Click here to read the whole article.

The dis-ease of Pastoral Soul Care

A great article, by Annie Dilenschneider, that goes beyond surface "fixes" of the problems of helping pastors maintain health (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) in ministry. Here's a snippet of the article:

"Until the 1920s, the pastor was a cura animarum, the "cure of souls," or "curate" -- a person who cared for souls by helping people locate themselves in God's greater story. The first step in this work was the pastor's own attention to her or his soul-care through an intentional focus on her or his personal relationship with the Holy...  My data, largely about United Methodist pastors, confirms your learnings that our pastors in large part are not praying people. They do not practice the historic spiritual disciplines and therefore it is impossible for them to help those of us who look to them for guidance in the church to be praying people seeking God and love of neighbor.

"Daily time and space for this inner work are essential for the health of clergy and congregations. As Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser wrote in Leading the Congregation: Caring for Yourself While Serving Others, a congregation

will not journey beyond the pastor; the congregation will not venture where the pastor is not leading. This is a hard saying. It would be more comfortable to work like the traffic cop -- to give a map or a few verbal instructions -- but spiritual formation is a case where only those who have eyes to see can lead. (p. 126)

Click here to read the article in whole.
In short, the author is describing how we have switched the First and Second great commands. The Second command, loving others, is deemed "ministry" and is more measureable than the first - after all, how do you measure love in terms of effectiveness, productive, useful, growth...

Do you need to developing this inner work of intimacy with God and self? Are you interested in a companion for your journey. reFresh offers spiritual direction and retreats to help foster unhurried, intimate space for you to linger in God's love and leading as the source of your life and ministry. Contact me for more info

Have a blessed day lingering in God's love

www.mysoulrefresh.com

Maturing the Modern Spiritual Formation Movement - without any Holy Baloney

Richard Foster, who has led and facilitated spiritual formation over the past several decades weighs in on the maturing the modern SF movement.

I love this - he sums up spiritual formation quite nicely and reminds us that this is a long, beautiful journey of receiving renovation in our hearts as the impetus to any good service in God's kingdom. Loving God translates into loving self and others.

The original article appears here, but you can read it below as well.

Maturing the Modern Spiritual Formation Movement
By Richard Foster
 
The task of maturing the modern spiritual formation movement is complicated and will require our finest thinking and most creative energies. There are two reasons, at least, for the complication. To begin with, the continuing popularity of spiritual formation today has meant that all kinds of writing and speaking have now gone forth on the subject. Frankly -- and I hate to say it in such a blunt matter -- much that has gone out under the name of spiritual formation has come from people who simply have not thought substantively on the subject, and (dare I mention it) we have to wonder if they themselves have been spiritually formed to any substantial degree. Hence, a great deal of "Holy Baloney" is out there now, and the average person will quickly despair at distinguishing the good from the bad.

Then, secondly, people in general and Americans in particular are a fickle lot, and they tire quickly. Many are already moving on to the next fad. And let's be honest: how many of us can truly wrap our minds around the notion of a forty-year journey into the subterranean chambers of the soul? That was, as you will recall, Moses' experience of character formation in the Egyptian desert. Forty years! Are we not tempted to opt instead for a short cut or two? Impatience is a primary spiritual problem in our day.

These things, however, need not discourage us. The human need -- and longing -- for substantive formation of heart and soul and mind and body into Christlikeness is always before us. It is not going to go away. No doubt our work will now be more difficult with those who feel they have tried spiritual formation, and it failed them, when all they really tried was some little "five steps to blessedness." Remember, we are not presenting people with any "program," but with a life. We simply and powerfully introduce them into an ongoing, interactive relationship with Jesus, their ever-living Savior, Teacher, Lord, and Friend. Apprenticed to Jesus, they will be able to go forward from faith to faith and from strength to strength.

Here now are a few things to bear in mind as we continue our efforts at maturing the modern spiritual formation movement.

1) We take the long view . . . always. We think in terms of lifetimes and centuries. The soul lives forever. It is precious beyond imagining. Investing deeply in even a few people will count for all eternity. Sure, many in today's religious climate will go on to other "more interesting" topics. We bless these folk and pray for their well-being and growth in grace. But there are plenty (vast numbers, in fact) who are committed to the long haul. They really want to be like Jesus with all their heart and soul and mind and strength. These are the ones we invest in. And, believe me, investing in these precious lives will take all the energy and all the time and all the prayer and all the weeping and laughing and singing and hoping we can possibly muster.

2) We refuse to think of spiritual formation in terms of various practices . . . ever. In another era, those practices were things such as a "quiet time" and Bible study of one sort or another. Today it is Lectio Divina and "journaling." May I say as clearly as possible: Christian spiritual formation has nothing essentially to do with such practices. Many practices can be genuinely helpful in their place, but they are not "it." What is "it" is LIFE -- life with Jesus, interactive relationship with the great God of the universe, inner transformation into Christlikeness. Now, this reality can take shape with Lectio and with "journaling," and it can happen without them. It can, and it does! The tendency today, unfortunately widespread, is to think of spiritual formation exclusively in terms of practices of one kind or another. Please, dear friend, do not fall into this trap. It will only produce legalism and bondage, and it utterly defeats spiritual formation. Many of the familiar practices are useful, to be sure, and some more than others. But none is essential. We all are to walk with the living Christ and then "in humility regard others as better than yourselves" (Phil. 2:3).

3) We engage in spiritual formation for the sake of the Church universal . . . always. Sectarian reform movements that cement an eternal split only become ends in themselves. We work instead for the transformation of the whole Church. We love the Church, the people of God, in all her multi-faceted expressions. Traditional. Contemporary. Liturgical. Charismatic. Emergent. Catholic and Orthodox and Protestant. Big church and little church, house church and crystal cathedral. We attempt no end run around the Church. God is with his people in all their waywardness and silliness, and so are we.
4) We do not center on curriculum-based solutions . . . ever. Curricula of all sorts are important but they come way down the line in formation work. Curriculum must always be subservient to ideas and ideas must always be subservient to relationship. In The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard (rightly in my estimation) has a chapter entitled, "A Curriculum for Christlikeness." However, this is the ninth chapter, and it comes only after a careful delineation of the unique qualities of the interactive relationship between Jesus and his apprentices and a careful explication of the central ideas related to this life in the kingdom of God. Far too many people rush to the curriculum program of chapter nine without establishing in their lives the foundations set forth so carefully in all that comes before. We must not leave out the curriculum work, but it never comes first and it must never be central. Nor can it ever be a "cookie-cutter" curriculum. Unique individuals people require unique, individualized curricula. Frankly, "cookie-cutter" curricula are very much like cookies -- all sweetness with precious little nutrition.

5) We draw wisdom and insight from the ancient sources . . . always. We reject the heresy of the contemporary. The people of God throughout history instruct us in the way eternal. Bible sources and post-Bible sources. We learn from Moses. We learn from Luther. We learn from Joseph of Arimathea. We learn from Catherine of Genoa. These are our teachers, our models, our inspiration.

6) We do not aim at outward action . . . ever. It is the renovation of the heart we are after. This inward work is much harder than mere outward conformity . . . and also easier. It is harder because we cannot see it, test it, control it. We cannot program the heart of another human being. We cannot program our own heart. But this is what makes it easier. God is the One who sees the heart. God is the One who tenderly programs the heart -- always allowing time and space for our will to turn and respond to divine Love. We are working in conjunction with a greater Plan, a greater Planner. We are part of God's great Renovation project for human beings. And so we can work at rest. We can labor under God's abiding grace.

7) We are keenly aware that true inward transformation will incline our hearts toward suffering humanity . . . always. Deep suffering is found everywhere, among the down and out and among the up and in. As our hearts are increasingly renovated, they will become increasingly tender toward the bruised and the broken, the helpless and the hopeless. We will then find ways to move outside our insulated bubbles of security. Trevor Hudson, a South African pastor and writer, during the darkest period in his country's history of apartheid, developed an eight-day experiential program designed to help young South Africans reflect upon the meaning of their faith and discipleship within the harsh and oppressive sociopolitical realities of their nation. Trevor calls this experience "The Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope." Oh, may we find ways to come alongside suffering human beings and together walk the pilgrimage of pain and hope!


Friends, right now spiritual formation is popular and much sought after. This time will pass, and when it does, we will continue on. Frankly, whether we are in the limelight or in obscurity is of no consequence whatever. Such matters are wood, hay, and stubble. We seek everlasting results: gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12). So, dear friends, live faithfully to the end. Be constant in season and out. Proclaim the good news of the kingdom. Walk cheerfully over the earth.

Richard Foster is the founder of Renovaré. He has authored or co-authored seven books, including Celebration of Discipline and Life With God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation (with Kathryn A. Helmers). He is also the lead editor of The Life with God Bible.
The above was originally developed for internal purposes, for friends and supporters of the Renovaré movement, and was put forward as a suitable contribution for this series. Copyright 2006 Renovaré, 8 Inverness Drive East, Suite 102, Englewood, CO, 80112, USA, http://www.renovare.us. 



www.mysoulrefresh.com

Embracing Poverty

"How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3). This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty.

We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it. Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden."
~Henri Nouwen


What is your poverty?

• Time?
• Aloneness?
• Money?
• Emotional stability?
• vocation?

How do you strive to "overcome" it - is that with God or apart from Him?

How does staring for treasure in the midst of your poverty feel?
What would you want to say to God re: your poverty?
As you sit with this thought, what might God be inviting you toward?


www.mysoulrefresh.com

Unhurried Journey Book Suggestions

Soul Custody: Choosing to care for the one and only you by Stephen W. Smith.

This is a great book by Stephen Smith (I also highly recommend his Lazarus Life book as well). Steve and his wife Gwen run The Potter's Inn spiritual formation retreat center in Colorado! I'd love to go there some day - it sounds like our two ministries are simpatico! Soul Custody really is a great guide of how to create more unhurried soul space in your life/world - especially in light of the "violence" with which our souls are often confronted. Smith covers topics like stillness, simplicity, detoxing from stress, caring for your body, community, and removing false identity, among other things. Here's a sample snippet:

"We forfeit our souls every single time we choose to drain ourselves and not replenish ourselves; run on empty rather than stopping and intentionally doing the things that will bring us life; burnout rather than live meaningful, significant, and impactful live that are enjoyable and life-giving to others. We forfeit the life God intended for us when we lower our souls to functioning as machines rather than living as soulish marvels who require more than a quart of oil or a recharging of our batteries" (p. 29).

The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction by Eugene Peterson

In short, I try to read everything Eugene has written. This is probably my favorite book of his - he challenges pastors and ministers (all of us really) to return to the true role of pastor - being "unbusy," "subversive," and "apocalyptic."  Here are a few choice quotes:

"...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" (17)

"And so pastors, instead of practicing prayer, which brings people into the presence of God, enter into the practice of Messiah: we will do the work of God for God, fix people up, tell them what to do, conspire in finding the shortcuts by which the long journey to the cross can be bypassed, since we all have such crowded schedules right now" (43). 

Yea, I know. He doesn't really pussy-foot around - I think that's why I like him! He is the King of "un-ning" (helping me unlearn, shake-off and re-center my soul and ministry on what is essential!)


The Life You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People by John Ortberg

Simple, profound, easy to read John Ortberg. The title originally made me think this was a health/wealth sort of book, but it is far from that. John does a great job of engaging and inviting the reader toward some spiritual disciplines like celebration, slowing, servanthood, confession, secrecy, and developing your own "rule" of life. The chapter on Unhurriedness (being ruthless to be unhurried) is worth the price of the book. And really, as you know by now, his quote re: love and hurry being fundamentally incompatible has sparked an unhurried revolution!

"For many of us the greatest danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them" (82).

Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for opening the gift of time by Dorothy Bass
 I read this book quite some time ago, but remember it made a big impact on me beginning to explore my relationship with time and why I was suffering from lack of peace. Receiving is a huge part of the gist of following after Christ (i.e. duh, that is the gist of grace, which is the gist of Christianity.) Bass gives a great historical overview of time, but an invitation toward learning to receive the day, versus get stuck in frenetic "making" of a day. Here's a review by Roberta Bondi - another great historian and follower of Jesus: 

"A profoundly useful book. . . . It reminds us forcibly that we are embodied creatures gifted by God with time too precious to fritter or work away. In its recommendations for healing our relationship to time it is often unsettlingly revolutionary, frequently subversive of our secular culture, and always full of Dorothy Bass's honest and generous reflections on her own life. It is a pleasure to recommend it." (Roberta Bondi, author, A Place to Pray: Reflections on the Lord's Prayer and Memories of God)

When the Soul Listens: Finding rest and direction in Contemplative Prayer by Jan Johnson
Do you want to learn how to lean in and listen? Are you hungry for a more intimate relationship with God - longing for Him to restore your heart and soul? As the back cover says, "If prayer has stopped working for you" then read this book!

"I'd been taught many methods of prayer, but most of them involved promoting my agenda. For many years as a Christian, I never sought God just for Himself...[but we resist a silent, agenda-less coming to God] because we're distracted by life's thousand demands and by our habit of filling in empty time slots with entertainment. Our mind flashes from one thing to another, always occupied. A weekly visit to church can't begin to penetrate this busyness. Contemplation reconnects us with God in the midst of this scatteredness" (18-19).

 
Invitation to Silence and Solitude: Experiencing God's Transforming Presence by Ruth Haley Barton
 Read every book of RHB's - they are really good! But start with Silence and Solitude - a gentle, practical invitation to a deeper and more honest life and love relationship with God and self.

"Solitude and silence are the most radical of the spiritual disciplines because they most directly attack the sources of human misery and wrongdoing. To be in solitude is to choose to do nothing. For extensive periods of time. All accomplishment is given up...When we go into solitude and silence we stop making demands on God. It is enough that God is God and we are his" ~Dallas Willard in the introduction, 10-11.

"We are a very busy, word and heady faith tradition. Yet we are desperate to find ways to open ourselves to our God who is, in the end, beyond all our human constructs and human agendas. With all our emphasis on theology and Word, cognition and service - and as important as these are - we are starved for mystery, to know this God as One who is totally Other and to experience reverence in his presence. We are starved for intimacy, to see and feel and know God in the very cells of our being. We are starved for rest, to know God beyond what we can do for him. We are starved for quiet, to hear the sound of sheer silence that is the presence of God himself" (21). 

Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith by Mike Yaconelli
In a fun, playful and challenging manner, Yaconelli invites us to a more childlike faith full of wonder, risk, doubt, mystery, honesty and passion - Here are two quotes I like:

"The critical issue of Christianity today is dullness. We have lost our astonishment. The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it is life enhancing. Jesus doesn't change people into wide eyed radicals anymore, He changes them into 'nice' people" (23).

"The increasing crescendo of our possessions, the ear-piercing noise of our busyness, and the soul smothering volume of our endless activity drowns out the still, small voice of God" (14).

The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath by Mark Buchanan
This is a great book for any of us wondering how we might incorporate Sabbath practices and a Sabbath attitude into our way too overcrowded and burdened lives. Buchanan is an engaging writer who also adds a "Sabbath liturgy" at the end of each chapter for potential practical integration of rest into your days/weeks.

"A Sabbath heart is restful even in the midst of unrest and upheaval. It is attentive to the presence of God and others even in the welter of much coming and going, rising and falling. It is still and knows God even when mountains fall into the sea" (4). 

"In a culture where busyness is fetish and stillness is laziness, rest is sloth. But without rest we miss the rest of God: the rest He invites us to enter in more fully so that we might know Him more deeply" (3).

Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster
Before long in the unhurried journey, you realize that freedom, simplicity, unhurriedness and stillness go hand in hand. This book was given to me by one of my spiritual heroes: Grandma Claudia. She modeled and lived a heart and home of simplicity - incidently, one also of joy, freedom, and love.

"God never guides us into an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness" (quoting Thomas Kelly in Testament of Devotion, 5).

"The joyful paradox in all this is that while simplicity is complex it is also simple. In the final analysis, we are not the ones who have to untangle all the intricacies of our complex world. There are not many things we have to keep in mind - in fact only one: to be attentive to the voice of the true Shepherd. There are not many decisions we have to make - in fact, only one: to seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness. There are not many tasks we have to do - in fact, only one: to obey Him in all things" (184).

Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly
This is a Quaker classic - one of my top 5 favorite books on living a centered, fully obedient life with Christ. 

[Following the Lord fully] is something wholly different from mild, conventional religion, which, with respectable skirts held back by dainty fingers, anxiously tries to fish the world out of the mudhole of its own selfishness" (27).

"Instead of being the active, hurrying church worker and the anxious, careful planner of shrewd moves toward the good life, we become pliant creatures, less brittle, less obstinately rational...The sooner we stop thinking we are the energetic operators of religion and discover that God is at work as the Aggressor, the Invader, the Initiator, so much sooner do we discover that our task is to call men [and women] to be still and know, listen, hearken in quiet invitation to the subtle promptings of the Divine...well intentioned people are so preoccupied with the clatter of effort to do something for God that they don't hear Him asking that He might do something through them" (70-71).

 

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Not necessarily a "Christian" book - but a book that guides you on an inner spiritual formation journey! Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, working through this book will help you come to discover more of who you were intimately and intricately created to be as well as how to unleash your creativity (in cooking, event planning, artistry, music, writing, crafts, flower arranging etc.) with the world in need of such beauty! Most of this is done by thought provoking, practical exercises designed to help you learn how to listen - to pay attention to what God has put in you that is you!

"The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention...the reward for paying attention is always healing" (63)

In Praise of Slowness: How a worldwide movement is challenging the cult of speed by Carl Honore
I actually just picked this up from the library but already in the first few chapters know I need to have this on my shelf. Honore is doing an amazing job overviewing how we've come to regard time in such a hasty, frenetic manner - he speaks of us suffering from "time-sickness" and "time poverty."

"Time-sickness can also be a symptom of a deeper, existential malaise. In the final stages before burnout, people often speed up to avoid confronting their unhappiness...speed helps us block out the horror and barrenness of the modern world: 'Our period is obsessed with the desire to forget, and it is to fulfill that desire that it gives over to the demon of speed..." (33).

 "Some argue that round-the-clock culture can make people feel less hurried by giving them the freedom to work and run errands whenever they want to. That is wishful thinking. Once the boundaries are swept away, competition, greed and fear encourage us to apply the time-is-money principle to every single moment of the day and night" (35).

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Perhaps a bit like a more modern day "Walden" adventure - Dillard invites us to open our eyes to the world around us. She speaks that "lovers" can see...but in order to see (and hence be a good lover) it takes intentionality to slow, wait, be patient and observe.

"There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises. The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand...It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. it is that simple. What you see is what you get" (22 - in Three by Annie Dillard)

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not when I came to die, discover that I had not really lived...I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life..." (82).

What more needs to be said? Linger with Thoreau in this classic if you sense that you want to live life more deliberately.



How to live in Flip Flops by Sandy Gingras
Found this delightfully profound book in my friend Jannine's shop out at the coast. It really is a fun treatise on unhurriedness!

"A life in flip-flops is a cheery life (it's hard to take ourselves seriously when our shoes are making funny noises). It's a slow life (difficult to run in such flappy shoes). It's easy (slide in-slide out) and sunny (wear SPF on every toe). It's a life as casual and silly and colorful and sweet as the designs upon our feet...When we open up our feet to the sun, our lives seem to open up also..." (1-2). 

Unhurry Up™ #92

This just in yesterday's NY Times:

"Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, 

hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans." 

by Paul Vitello - NY Times, Aug 1, 2010

This news is heartbreaking to me - but I continue to encounter the reality almost weekly. Even more, I imagine God being saddened as well - did he mean for his "workers" to suffer from self-induced poor choices to care for themselves?

As you read this article (click on the NY Times link above), what does it stir within your own soul?

How might you help your pastor buck this unhealthful trend? Perhaps you could gift her with a day at the spa, or him with a weekend reFresh retreat.

There is a great place, Shepherd's Rest, in SW Washington that lets pastors come absolutely free for a week of rest - maybe pass on the link to your pastor!


If you are clergy or a vocational minister reading this - in what ways is God inviting you to care for yourself so that you might care for your flock? How is your hurry affecting your health and your ability to shepherd your flock? What might you do to buck this trend?

I am on my own journey as the Lord has invited me to pay attention to my health. Take a look at what I've been doing over the past 6 weeks - I have lost 21 pounds and have more energy than ever! Please contact me if you want to talk through any of this! I'd love to journey alongside you as you pay attention to God's invitations toward wholeness! Shalom!

Unhurry Up™ 

Join the Unhurried Revolution!

www.mysoulrefresh.com

Unhurry Up™ #91

"We forfeit our souls every single time we choose to drain ourselves and not replenish ourselves; 

run on empty rather than stopping and intentionally doing the things that will bring us life; 

burnout rather than live meaningful, significant, and impactful lives that are enjoyable and life-giving to others. 

We forfeit the life God intended for us when we lower our souls to functioning as machines 

rather than living as soulish marvels who require more than a quart of oil or a recharging of our batteries."

~ Stephen W. Smith in Soul Custody (due out Aug 1), 29

 In what ways are you gaining the whole world, yet forfeiting your soul?

Is your life more on autopilot or are you seeking to intentionally cooperate with your Creator in living and enjoying the life He's given?

Join the Unhurried Revolution!

Unhurry Up™

www.mysoulrefresh.com

The lost art of listening

 I picked up Eugene Peterson's The Contemplative Pastor again. It is one of those books I return to frequently to help remind me what I am supposed to focus on as one who follows a compassionate and unhurried Christ. Today I'm struck by Peterson's self-pondering, "The question I put to myself is not 'How many people have you spoken to about Christ this week?' but 'How many people have you listened to in Christ this week?'" (21).

Coming from over two decades of vocational ministry and having had to turn in statistics counting the former (speaking to others), but never the latter (listening to others), it makes me wonder:

• Why did I never have a seminary class on listening? There is homiletics and hermeneutics, but what about hearing God? Self? Others? (I did learn how to listen and pay attention to culture in my Intercultural Studies degree and I am learning to listen to "self" in my Spiritual Formation classes at Fox!) 
• Theological debates are always verbose - people trying to prove their reasoning and thus "listening" merely to garner points to disprove, with verbosity, anothers' "faulty" reasoning. What would happen, instead, if we listened more to one anothers' hearts than to their reasoning (and our intent to disprove it) alone? 
• Jesus never un-welcomed someone for their different theologies (except perhaps the Pharisees) and He was an equal-opportunity listener to those with different genders, economic status, race, nationalities etc. Who do I "instantly" close my ears to because they are different from me?
  
• Why are new disciples trained to be so wordy in prayers, in teaching, in evangelism and in sharing  testimonies? How might discipleship programs teach listening to God, self, culture and others in our quiet times, witnessing, prayer and Home Fellowships/Bible Studies?
• Why is it that I have been taught that my greatest growth as a disciple depends mostly upon listening to other people's sermons, books, seminars, teachings etc? Who teaches the disciple to listen to God in the daily ordinariness of life in nature, self-reflection, good fiction, strangers,dirty diapers etc?
  
• How can I, like Jesus, join the Father in what He is doing if I do not take time to pay attention to what He is doing? How can I heed His invitations if I cannot hear them? It is far easier to make (and measure) my own plans and ask God to bless them, than to listen to His plans and join Him.
• Why do so many need to pay a professional to "listen" to them when it is our job as the body of Christ to do that for one another?
  
• What would change if missions organizations had a column in their weekly statistic gathering for "listening" to others in Christ vs. merely speaking to others about Him?

Listening, I believe, is a greater act of love than speaking. Indeed, some of the most intimate moments of sharing a sunset, holding a baby, making love, require little in the way of spoken words. They require listening and responding and enjoying.

Listening also requires unhurriedness. To be fully present to one another (or even to myself and God) is a rare and wonderful gift! But if I am busy, thinking about what is next on the schedule, I will not listen (nor, consequently, love the other,) well. I am double minded - unstable in all my ways and in what I offer. If I have not cultivated a habit of paying attention to God and my own soul in the quiet times of solitude and silence, I cannot impart the space and energy required to engage in loving others with my ears and heart. People can mince and manipulate words and fake sincerity. You cannot fake being a good listener. It takes time and not a little amount of energy to "hear" beyond what is being said on the surface.

Perhaps that is why in the Old Testament the most often iterated command is: "Hear/Listen."

In the twice daily repeated Jewish Shema (which is, incidentally, the Hebrew word for "hear/listen"), an  invitation to Listening and Love are mingled together:

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One. 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul mind and strength."

Deut 6:4

How do we become good at listening/loving?

According to Peterson

• Practice lingering and unhurriedness - with a  friend, child, spouse, pet, stranger, elderly person etc. Another offer suggests slowing to look at one thing a day through a magnifying glass - pay attention, do not rush.
  
• Schedule "margin" in your days so you are not rushing from one thing to the next and thus can linger honestly, sincerely and with focus and enjoyment;
  
• Cultivate a "listening" prayer life: "I can be active and pray; I can work and pray; but I cannot be busy and pray. I cannot be inwardly rushed, distracted and dispersed. In order to pray I have to be paying more attention to God than to what people are saying to me; to God than to my clamoring ego. Usually for that to happen there must be a deliberate withdrawal from the noise of the day, a disciplined detachment from the insatiable self" (20).
  

Incidentally, the qualities of Love mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13 seem suspiciously similar to someone who is a good listener:

⁴Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  

⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  

⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

www.paulagamble.com

Refresh @ Shepherd's Rest

What a joy to be out at Shepherd's Rest on Saturday - this place is amazing - You could join me on Sept 13th for some sweet time with God in a really amazing serene setting.
Check out the pics - and sign up for a Refresh retreat @ www.paulagamble.com

The Chapel







I couldn't resist going into the creek

The house...I know...it's roomy!

www.paulagamble.com