Unhurried Living | Helping Christians Rest Deeper & Lead Better

Over the summer, we are sharing some replays of our podcast we’re calling “Unhurried Favorites.” Today I'm resharing an interview with Curt Thompson, MD about his book The Soul of Desire . I found so many intersections with what Gem and I have been learning in our journey towards wholeness and vitality in our life in God. In this book, Curt talks about the place of desire in our lives, how desire...

Over the summer, we are sharing some replays of our podcast we’re calling “Unhurried Favorites.” Today I’m talking about time, and whether we have enough of it.  It's a refreshed vision of time…one that doesn’t leave us feeling pressured.   ________________________________________________ Follow Gem on Instagram and grab a copy of her new book Hold That Thought . You can also join her in the Reple...

In my book, An Unhurried Life , I wrote a chapter titled “Productivity: Unhurried Isn’t Lazy,” in part, to speak to our tendency to assume that productivity is always about doing more and more and more. But what if true productivity is, at least in part, about doing qualitatively better work , even if it seems less busy than before?    There is a cultural bias for always staying busy. I’m sharing...

If life were a house, then every room holds a story. What do we do when a room we’re in is no longer a room where we belong?   What do you do when you start to feel a shift and must decide if it’s time to make a change? When it comes to navigating big decisions about when to stay and go, how can we know for sure when the time is right? Though we enter and exit many rooms over the course of our lif...

How do prayer and leadership relate to each other? Looking at the lives of some leaders, it seems like prayer is incidental to leadership at best. For others, it’s a personal priority that doesn’t seem to impact leadership in any obvious way. For still others, prayer is like an on-ramp, preparatory for the work of leadership but largely left behind when the leading begins.    What does Christian l...

I love watching travel and cooking shows, so if there’s a show that combines the two, I’m hooked. If you are familiar with the names Phil Rosenthal, Guy Fieri and Andrew Zimmern, then you know what I’m talking about.    Traveling, eating tasty food, and meeting intriguing people is a combination my heart longs for. I’ve often mentioned to Alan that if I were to have an alternate universe job, I wo...

In An Unhurried Leader , I shared that I’ve often been tempted to prove something about myself through the work I do. I behave as though my value is uncertain and needs to be earned or achieved. It isn’t and it doesn’t. To use a theological category, my worth is more a matter of grace rather than a matter of works.   That sort of insecurity has been a major driver of hurry in my life. I wonder if...

Unhurried Living is now in its ninth year of serving Christian leaders around the world. We’ve come to some small inflection points in the past, but we are in the midst of another, important time in our ministry. We are adding to our team!   Today I am introducing you to Jodie Niznik and Matt Fogle. They are two stellar leaders who are going to link arms with Alan and me as we continue the work of...

The cross is the heart of Scripture.   Everything about the gospel message leads to the cross, and proceeds from the cross. In fact, within the narrative of Scripture, the crucifixion of Jesus is literally the crux of the story―the axis upon which the biblical story turns. But it would be a mistake to think we could sum up the significance of the crucifixion in a tidy sentence or two.    That kind...

In the retelling of the Mary and Martha story, many inadvertently pit these sisters against each another. We are forced to make a choice: “I’m a Mary” or, more regularly I hear, “I’m a Martha.” As though these women were tropes or types on a personality test.    This is unfortunate, because then we are drawn to take sides and defend one or the other. Our own identity becomes wrapped up in one woma...

What do we mean when we talk about the importance of prayer? What is prayer? Is it mainly the words we say to God about our concerns, our needs, our hopes, our desires? What is the difference, if any, between saying prayers and being prayerful?    Today, I’m sharing a conversation with a wise Franciscan priest who has been practicing prayerfulness for over 50 years.    Albert Haase, OFM, is a prea...

God's face is always shining toward us. Our God is not asleep, nor indifferent. But we don't always experience this nearness or the depth of how beloved we truly are--especially if we have experienced neglect, betrayal, or indifference in our formative human relationships.   In her book, The Emmanuel Promise , Summer Joy Gross acts as a nurturing guide, as she helps us make our way to the transfor...

I’ve written and said plenty about the problem of hurry in our lives and in our world. There is a condition called hurry sickness, which is the feeling of always being rushed as though you were lagging behind in some race. This raises our stress levels. A sense that we don’t have enough time for everything we have to do is a sign of hurry sickness. We can end up feeling increasing frustration with...

For the last few years I have enjoyed meeting with women in coaching groups or soul care groups. It is such a beautiful and vulnerable way to share our lives. The women who attend are always leaning in toward God and desiring to connect at a deeper level with others.   A while back I decided I wanted to share with these women the scriptures that have helped form me. These verses helped me focus on...

For too many, work feels tedious, painful, even meaningless. And we don’t seem to know what to do about it. There is a familiar crisis of meaning and of sustainability. You’ve probably heard the alarming statistics: how so many who lost work during the pandemic just aren’t interested in returning to their jobs.    We need to find a way out of disintegration so that we can discover how work can be...

As young children its easy to pick up beliefs and behaviors that seem to work for us, but as we move into adulthood, we find that is no longer the case. Today, I’m going to share with you a personal story of how one of my early unhelpful behaviors was transformed by God into something beautiful and useful for me today. _________________________________________________ Follow Gem on Instagram and g...

In the summer of 2023, I finally got the opportunity to make a retreat at a place I’ve been wanting to visit for years. I drove up to the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California for an eight-day silent retreat. I’ve done week-long retreats before on the East Coast, but never here in California.    I’ve been wanting to share the story of my experience of extended retreat here on the podcast....

One of my mentors often liked to ask a couple of simple questions when we were together: first, “What is the Christian life?” and second, “What is the church?” At first glance, those feel like beginner questions. Of course  we know what a Christian is and what church is about.    But how many of our assumptions about our life in Christ together look more like being a twenty-first century North Ame...

Women have been important leaders throughout church history. There are multiple stories in the Old and New Testaments about the powerful and unique ways women lead. Think Deborah, Ruth, Esther, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, Phoebe, Priscilla and more. There are the desert mothers, and women such as Julian of Norwich, Clare of Assisi and Teresa of Avila, who have given us wisdom for the...

Having written a book about anxiety, I’ve seen a lot of promises about how to solve it. A life hack here. Six easy steps there. But my own experience with anxiety has been anything but easy. Today, I want to share some of the more unexpected pathways to peace I’ve discovered in my journey.   ____________________________________________________ Connect with Alan on LinkedIn or learn more about Unhu...

Hard . Crusty. Unyielding. Rootless . Shallow. Burning out. Withering. Thorny . Distracted. Choked. Pressed. Good . Healthy. Vibrant. Thriving.   What is this list of (mostly disturbing) words I’ve just uttered? Especially when the title of this episode includes, “A Gracious Reflection.” Well, it’s a list that came to mind upon a recent encounter with the Parable of the Sower from Mark 4. I was st...

The greatest priority in the kingdom of God is simple and straightforward. Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).” That sentence will not surprise a single one of you listening.   But, in my own experience of the Christian life, it has often felt like we majored on loving God with our minds over loving God with our souls,...

In Anne Lamott 's book, Traveling Mercies , she shares the story that led her to take the leap into her own faith journey. It was the story of Abraham and Isaac that caught her attention. The reality and authenticity of Abraham's belief and trust in God's provision compelled her. It led me to ponder and process that moment in Abraham's life. This is where we’re headed today on the Unhurried Living...

Sometimes, anxiety rises in my thoughts, emotions, and body as an overwhelming wave. I’m tempted in moments like that to let myself be overcome, whether by allowing anxiety to immobilize me, to chase me away from what God has given me to do, or even to drive me to ways of working that seem to be only thinly aware that God is with me as I work.  I’ve been learning that over time that anxiety became...

Spiritual growth is often sparked by great love or deep pain. But so much of our world conspires to keep us too busy to feel loved or to pay attention to our deep feelings. We want to grow, but we aren’t always aware of the points at which God is inviting us forward. We need mentors and tools that will help slow us down to notice God with us, and to see where we may be welcoming the grace of God i...