When we gather as the church, we have sometimes placed more value on speaking the words of our heart to God than we have on cultivating an attentive, listening heart before God. Many struggle with any silence in church. We might do well to let the wisdom of James guide us when we gather as God’s people: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak… (Jms 1:19).”

For the first couple of decades of my life in the church, I was part of fairly typical Evangelical...

Over the course of our first few episode of the new year, we are sharing answers to our poll question: “What is the biggest challenge you face right now in living a more unhurried life?” Dealing with Workplace Stress is the second podcast in that series.

Last week, we talked about “Nine Practical Challenges to Living Less Hurried.” This week, we’re talking about “Dealing with Workplace Stress.”

Your primary workplace may be a corporate office, a home...

Last year we polled our community and asked them a key question: “What is the biggest challenge you face right now in living a more unhurried life?” Living less hurried can be a challenge. We got some great responses.

We arranged the responses into five categories which will be the theme of some of our upcoming episodes. Those themes are:

• Practical Challenges to Living Less Hurried
• Dealing with Workplace Stress
• Inner Distractions & Soul Busyness
• Keeping First Things First
• ...

I caught the flu on Christmas day. That was not one of my year-end goals. That sentence sounds like a novelty holiday song like “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” but I can tell you it wasn’t nearly as fun. We had family over and I just wasn’t at my best. Even now, a week later, I’m still feeling the last little bit of stuffy nose, tight chest and sore throat. Yuck!

Gem and I also took the Christmas week off from our usual Unhurried Living activities. We try to...

The Welcoming Prayer is a process that you can use on the go. It is useful for times when something comes up that makes you feel sad, hurt, or stressed. Sometimes, in the middle of a busy day, we don’t have time to address all of the emotions that come up. But we may notice here and there that an emotion is quite loud. We need a way to deal with it and continue on in our tasks or work.

In just a few minutes, you can let the emotion come up and at the same time become aware of...

Great news - I have found a way to reduce much of the stress in my life. Actually, let me re-phrase that: A way to reduce much of the stress in my life found me. I wasn’t looking for this stress reducer, but it hit me like an 18-wheeler and set me on a new path.

Much of the stress in my life is caused by my expectations, as well as my trying to control situations so they turn out the way I think they should. This happens consciously and unconsciously. Lovely.

I want to address just one...

In this episode, Alan unpacks ten practical ways to unhurry your holidays. These suggestions are not meant to add a whole lot more tasks to your already-too-long holiday to do list. Instead, we hope you’ll find one or two of these ideas to be a way to approach this holiday season from a different spirit—with a more unhurried, relaxed, and peaceful heart.

The Thanksgiving holiday is behind us and the Advent and Christmas season lies ahead. We hear the songs that are calling this...

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

Enjoy Gem's conversation with Marla Christian as they introduce you to the Enneagram.

The ultimate reality is that we are loved by God, just as we are and as he made us (our true self). However, as we grow up, and over time, we begin to construct a false self. The false self is who we wish we were. It is the person we want others to think we are. We compensate for a world that is not what we thought it would be.

Over time, we begin to believe the...

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

In this episode, we are talking about pain and loss. It is an inevitable part of all of our lives. We want to try to give some perspective on pain and how it can actually be viewed as a grace. If you are in the middle of deep pain right now, I’m sure that the word “grace” is not on the tip of your tongue. We are so sorry that you are so heavy and burdened right now. We hope you can hear this and tuck it away for a day when...

Alan and Gem discuss developing a personal rhythm of life. It’s a practice they both have worked on over the years in their own spiritual journeys.

In fact, the ideas shared grow out of a training piece Alan has shared with hundreds of leaders over the years. It’s one of the ways we can rise up out of the hurried and compacted world in which we live into a place of greater perspective and freedom.

That’s always one of the ironies of freedom: It is not really something you...