The Journey - An Unhurried Space
Welcome Back to The Journey!
Last post, we left off with Jesus’ words from Matthew 11:28–
Are you tired? Worn out? …Learn the unforced rhythms of grace… Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Spiritual Practices are a way we can experience this life of grace and freedom with God.
Each month, The Journey will provide a Spiritual Practice you can engage in. These practices make space for connection and life with God. They are practical experiences to help us know God, and ourselves, better.
Spiritual Practices help you know God, and yourself, better.
Spiritual practices can help us break through the habits that keep us from God. We need to determine what is blocking a deeper life with God. In my life, busyness and hurry can get in the way. My life can be driven by deadlines, schedules, and expectations. Busyness takes over, and I hurry to keep up. It can feel like I’m going a hundred miles an hour… in a circle.
Busyness and Hurry
We all know busyness. What is the most common response to “How are you?” We often say, “Busy!”
Busyness leads us to hurry… A calendar full of commitments that keep us racing from one thing to another. Not listening to others well, because we are thinking about what we are going to say next. Feeling anxious (or crabby) about how slowly things are moving. Rushing through things, not taking breaks, falling into bed exhausted, because there is simply too much to do!
Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message Bible, writes this in Subversive Spirituality,
Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God’s actions. It is taking charge. (1)
I long to live in the freedom that Matthew 11:28 promises. How about you? And how do we get there? A simple shift can help us experience life with God in a new way. Today’s practice offers just such a shift.
Our first practice is simple: To Slow Down
Slowing down helps us mentally and physically by reducing our stress level. It’s also a spiritual practice because it helps us become more aware of ourselves, others, and God. Pastor and author, John Ortberg, (more on him in a bit) writes,
For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted, rushed, and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them. (2)
Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry
I want to share a conversation that I was not a part of… but has had a profound impact on me. Join me as we listen to John Ortberg and Dallas Willard.
Willard, Ortberg’s mentor, was an author, theologian, and professor at University of Southern California. Ortberg is also an author and has pastored a couple of large churches. One day, as Ortberg was feeling the pressure of leading a large church, he called Willard for advice.
Ortberg: “What do I do to become the me I want to be?”
Willard: “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”
Ortberg (after carefully writing this down): “Okay, what else?”
Willard: “There is nothing else. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” (3)
When I read this, my reaction was - What about self-improvement? Going back to the gym? Prayer and Bible study? Or the “really spiritual” things (Willard was a theologian after all) like solitude, silence, and fasting? Surely these are more effective, or more “spiritual,” with greater benefits!
Others have wrestled with this issue of hurry -
Corrie ten Boom, Christian writer, and speaker, who helped many Jews escape the Nazis and survived a concentration camp herself, once said,
If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy. (4)
John Mark Comer, pastor, and author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, writes,
Not only does hurry keep us from the love, joy, and peace of the kingdom of God – the very core of what all human beings crave - but it also keeps us from God himself simply by stealing our attention. (5)
Busyness and hurry are enemies of our souls.
Slowing down opens space to be with God
so we can live freely, lightly,
and experience His love.
Slowing Down
Slowing down, eliminating hurry, can create space for life with God.
For many of us, we dream of a morning to ourselves… making it happen is something else! We have demanding jobs and busy children!
We can start small. Perhaps we can find an hour to slow down and be alone with God. Or maybe it’s a simple shift in the little moments of our day.
Sometimes I catch myself rushing about. And I don’t even know why! Or I discover that my mind is racing. Or I’m picking up my phone (again) to distract myself to try to find a moment of peace… as if my phone could deliver that!
I remember one day, when we lived in California, after rushing around the house, I raced out to the car to run an errand. As I started the engine I became aware of my quick, shallow breathing. I was out of touch with myself, driven by who knows what! As I stopped, I sensed the Lord say “breathe.” I sensed His invitation to take a minute to tune into myself, to Him, and to myself with Him. I turned the car off, went back into the house, lay on the floor and did just that… breathed. In that moment of frantic hurry, God enabled me to stop and listen. There was no big message from God. No resolution to the things that were driving me. Simply an awareness that I was not alone, it was not all up to me, God was with me, and He loved me.
Our invitation this month is simply to find space to slow down and be unhurried. It might mean pulling away for some quiet, alone with God. It might mean catching yourself hurrying and choosing to slow down, it might mean simply not picking up your phone and instead looking around at your surroundings. Simply noticing. And in noticing, you may be able to really breathe, and to know that God is with you.
Practicing An Unhurried Space
The truth is that God is always with us. Sometimes we need to slow down so we notice His provision, His love, and His presence with us. Distraction, hurry, and busyness take us away from experiencing the present, and therefore take us away from our sensitivity to God.
Here are some ideas about how you might practice slowing down and being unhurried. Pay attention to what sparks something in you; perhaps this is what God is inviting you to!
Ask God to help you set aside a period sometime this month to be in an “Unhurried Space” or a “No Hurry Zone.” Perhaps you can find a morning, hour, or a few minutes to be intentional about this.
Ask God to help you enjoy it, to relax, and be reminded that things will be fine, even as you “unhurry.”
When you find yourself hurrying, take a moment to ask God why. Be kind to yourself. God’s voice will be gentle. This is not a “Beat Yourself Up Zone”!
If you are struggling to not hurry in your day, try walking with your hands behind your back. (I can catch myself just rushing across a room! Sometimes a simple shift in how I carry my body can help me slow down.)
After you’ve tried this exercise, you may want to reflect with God (and also in your journal or with a friend) about what it was like. How hard was it to not hurry? Can you identify why you were hurrying?
Thank God for the experience.
Try it again another time! (4)
As you choose to engage in these practices, know that others at Shallowford are engaging with them too!
We are training to be more aware of God as we experiment with this practice. We are not trying to have a particular experience. Sometimes we will feel Him near and other times not. That’s okay! We are learning to let go of the things that keep us from Him. We are practicing being unhurried to make space for Him.
Remember that these are invitations. Engage with them as you sense God inviting you. And invite Him into the experience with you. He longs for you to know His presence with you.
Next Month
Next month we’ll explore the question Who is God? I look forward to seeing what God shows each of us!
Additional Resources
Book by John Mark Comer - The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
Article by Bill Gaultier - “Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry”
Music Video by Carolyn Arends: “Come Away From Rush and Hurry”
Footnotes
(1) Peterson, Eugene. Subversive Spirituality p. 237
(2) Comer, John Mark. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. p. 27
(3) Comer, John Mark. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. p. 18-19
(4) Comer, John Mark. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. p. 20
(5) Comer, John Mark. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. p. 25
(6) Adapted from Renovare Institute Course 2 Monthly Practice, “An Unhurried Space.”
If you don’t know me already… my name is Anne Greski. I serve as Women’s Ministry Director at Shallowford Church. I am a second-year student at the Renovare Institute, where I am learning how to live and share the deeper journey of Spiritual Formation in Christlikeness. My great desire is to experience friendship with God, and learn to love as God loves.