1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:07,320 Speaker 1: Life Audio. You might be tired because you're trying to 2 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,760 Speaker 1: carry more than you're ever meant to hold. What makes sense. 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: You see so much need around you, You hear so 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 1: many voices, and you probably feel the weight of responsibility 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: to respond, to help, to fix, or to save. But 6 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: wisdom does not begin with urgency. It begins with listening. Hi, friends, 7 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: I'm Jem Faddling, and this is the Unhurried Living podcast 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,599 Speaker 1: where we inspire you to rest deeper, live fuller, and 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: lead better. Today I want to talk about what it 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,599 Speaker 1: means to create space for that listening and why it 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: may be the most faithful thing we can do. After 12 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: a word from our sponsor, will dive into our conversation 13 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: for today. I'm enamored by people who can speak and 14 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: write poetically. I admire those who can capture life with 15 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: beauty and metaphor. I'm more of a practical, matter of 16 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: fact kind of speaker and writer, which I suppose has 17 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: its own kind of charm. But still there's a part 18 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: of me that wishes I were a poet. A while back, 19 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: my spiritual director opened our time together by reading a 20 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: poem by Martha Posselthwaite from her book addiction and recovery. 21 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: Her poetry is beautiful, but what struck me even more 22 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: deeply was the way of life she described. She writes, 23 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: do not try and save the whole world or anything grandiose. Instead, 24 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,479 Speaker 1: create a clearing in the dense forest of your life, 25 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: and wait there patiently until the song that is your 26 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize 27 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: and greet it. Only then will you know how to 28 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: give yourself to this world so worthy of rescue. I 29 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: want to learn how to live like that, don't you. 30 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: It's increasingly easy to carry the weight of the world 31 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: on our shoulders. See and hear what's happening in nearly 32 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: every corner of the planet. The suffering, the injustice, the need, 33 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: the division psychologically, emotionally, relationally, and even physically. This is 34 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: too much for any one person to bear. Postlethwaite's invitation 35 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: is not to disengage from the world's pain, but to 36 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: resist the illusion that we can or should carry it all. Instead, 37 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: she invites us to create a clearing inside our own inner, 38 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: dense forest and to wait, and I would add to 39 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: wait with and in God. This is a profoundly unhurried invitation. 40 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: The temptation is always to keep moving, often at breakneck speed. 41 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: There's so much to do, so many needs, so many 42 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: good causes. We quietly wonder how it would ever all 43 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: get done. But unhurried leadership takes a different view. Unhurried 44 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: leadership understands that we cannot pour out what we have 45 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: not first received. We must be filled before we give, 46 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: and that filling doesn't happen accidentally. So let me ask 47 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: this in a practical way, what would it actually look 48 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: like to create a clearing in the dense forest of 49 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: your own life. This is not another message about failing 50 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: at quiet times. This is an honest invitation to make 51 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: space to listen and receive from God. Replenishing spiritual practices 52 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: are not indulgent. They're formative, and they shape our wisdom 53 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: and help us discern where and how our energy is 54 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: meant to flow. We have limited time and energy, and 55 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: as we age, our bodies often make that reality more clear. 56 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: Honoring our capacity is not weakness. It is wisdom. And 57 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: that's why it matters so deeply to know who you 58 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: are and what you have to offer. You have God 59 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: given abilities, desires, and passions. The question is not whether 60 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: you should give yourself to the world, but how and 61 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: where I find myself regularly reassessing my energy and capacity, 62 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: which often leads me to readjust my calendar and my commitments. 63 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: Becoming scattered and overwhelmed does not help anybody, and our 64 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: culture is crying out for wise, experienced leaders, people who 65 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: know the way, the truth, and the life not just 66 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: by knowledge, but by lived experience. This clearing in the 67 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: dense forest of your life is where you receive from 68 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: God in unique and necessary ways. And the first and 69 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: often repeated thing we hear is this, you are loved. 70 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: It is impossible for God not to love us, for 71 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: God is love, as we are reminded in First John four. 72 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: Everything else flows from that love. There are a couple 73 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: of things worth naming about this waiting place that Postlethwaite describes. First, 74 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: there is a waiting place shaped by time and location. 75 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: You can set apart moments where you listen through scripture, prayer, journaling, silence, 76 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: or solitude. These are tangible clearings that we intentionally create. Second, 77 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: there is a waiting place within your heart, a kind 78 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: of inner attentiveness you carry with you. Inspiration often arrives 79 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: when we are not striving for it. Holding an inward 80 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: ear towards the spirit allows fruit to emerge over time. 81 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: And then there's that beautiful posture of the cupped hands. 82 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 1: Cupped hands convey expectancy, trust, a willingness to receive rather 83 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: than grasp. We wait, believing that God will give what 84 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: we need and guide how we are meant to offer ourselves. 85 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: So let's return to the poem one more time and 86 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 1: let it speak to us again. Do not try and 87 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: save the whole world or anything grandiose. Instead, create a 88 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait 89 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: there patiently until the song that is your life falls 90 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. 91 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: Only then will you know how to give yourself to 92 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: this world so worthy of rescue. And now here are 93 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,599 Speaker 1: a few questions that can arise naturally from this, and 94 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:18,040 Speaker 1: maybe take some time later to ponder and journal with these. First, 95 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:21,840 Speaker 1: in what way does your life feel like a dense 96 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: forest right now? Where might you create a clearing in 97 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 1: which to patiently wait? And finally, what does trust those 98 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: cupped hands look like for you in this season? The 99 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,559 Speaker 1: world does not need us frantic or depleted. It needs 100 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: us grounded, discerning and faithful. May you find the courage 101 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: to stop trying to save the whole world and instead 102 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: receive the song God is placing gently into your cupped hands, 103 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,720 Speaker 1: and then you can allow that to overflow into your 104 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: relationships and your work. Blessings to you as you make 105 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:06,239 Speaker 1: your way. Thank you for joining me on the Unhurried 106 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: Living podcast. You can download free resources and learn more 107 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: about us at Unhurried Living dot com, and please subscribe 108 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: and share this podcast with your friends and colleagues. We'd 109 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: also like to thank our partner Life Audio. Check out 110 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: their other faith centered podcasts at life audio dot com. 111 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: Blessings to you as you make your way.