Friday, June 14, 2024
Unless you live in the middle of nowhere or have made intentional choices to live differently, an overfilled and frantic life may be all too familiar. Today busy-ness is often worn as a badge of honor, with people proudly responding “Busy!” when asked how they are doing. But at what cost?
Hurry impacts not only our emotional wellbeing, it also threatens our spiritual lives. It is incompatible with joy, peace and love, and distracts us from a relationship with God.
The exciting thing is when we slow down and walk at the same pace as the Prince, Jesus promises rest.
Matthew 11:28
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
But, in order to live differently, we actually need to, well… live differently, and that takes practice. So, for the next few weeks, we’ll explore 12 ways to live an unhurried life, dipping our toe into this pace of peace lifestyle by examining each in an unhurried way, so you can practice what you’re learning. Remember, small changes over time can lead to big results.
Our first step begins with recalibrating our center, because rest comes from Jesus. In a world filled with distractions, we need to make a conscious effort to fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 1:2) in order to experience the peaceful life he offers. Here are a few ideas to help you bring your thoughts back to Jesus.
- Regularly pause and meditate on Scripture. Great verses to use for this include:
- Try something like the KLOVE Challenge where you tune your radio station to listen to only worship music for one month. You could also build a playlist to do this, if you prefer.
- Set alarms on your phone to pray regularly throughout the day
- Take a walk and notice God’s amazing creation around you. What do you see, smell, or hear that is pure, lovely or worthy of praise?
This week choose one and practice it for a few days. Then try another to see which resonates but give yourself time to really experience it. Enjoy the opportunity to press pause on hurry and spend time with God, who wants you to experience a peace that exceeds anything we can understand. (Philippians 4:7)