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[0] checkbox [#] position [cover] cover [author] author Fadling, Alan [isbn] isbn 0830835733 [isbn13] isbn13 9780830835737 [asin] asin [num pages] num pages 198 pp [avg rating] avg rating 4.03 [num ratings] num ratings 117 [date pub] date pub Mar 07, 2013 [date pub (ed.)] date pub edition Apr 22, 2013 [rating] Elise's rating 5 of 5 stars [my rating] my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves [review] review "What if I had to lower my personal standards of productivity in order to be more loving?" I loved this book - it was paradigm-shifting for me. I natur "What if I had to lower my personal standards of productivity in order to be more loving?" I loved this book - it was paradigm-shifting for me. I natural fall on the Type-A, intense, red, overdrive spectrum of personality, so I tend to regularly experience the burnout Fadling suggests comes from ignoring my need for unhurried rest. "[Restful solitude] is patterned consciously on the experience of Christ, who periodically went alone, even at the price of temporary separation from the needs of his fellows. The justification of aloneness is not that of refined self-indulgence, but rather a consequent enrichment of one's subsequent contribution. A person who is always available is not worth enough when he is available....It is the men and women who find it hardest to get away who need the redemptive solitude most sorely." Spiritually, I am a Martha but a little envious of the Marys. A Sabbath day of rest often feels like getting behind on responsibilities that don't rest. It seems a little cruel that Jesus let Lazarus actually die, and let his family suffer for four days, when he could have been healed without that unnecessary pain. It seems a bit lacking in compassion to spend alone time in the mountains praying while your disciples are being tossed on a boat in a storm, waiting until the fourth watch of the night before going to them. But Fadling reminds us that Jesus was unhurried intentionally - not lazy or selfish (as our society tends to label "unhurried"), but rather trusting and deliberate in a way that dissipates anxiety. Jesus modeled a rhythm of work and rest that can make intense, overdriven Type-As a little uneasy. "Many of us only feel valuable when we are checking something off our to-do list. We therefore struggle to enter into the gift of rest as a good in itself....... [We see rest as] only worthwhile if it helps us recharge our batteries, so we can be even more efficient in the next period of productivity. We know we need rest, but we can no longer see the value of rest as an end in itself." I love the parable Fadling gives of the two servants to exhibit that "unhurried rest" is not an excuse to avoid productivity, but rather a tool to ensure that we are being productive in the most valuable ways. He talks of two servants. Both arise early in the morning. One rushes off, immediately attending to responsibilities and hurrying about to accomplish the tasks he knows the King will have for him that day. The other immediately goes to the King to discuss the day with him, beginning it in a state of rest and peace and aligning his internal drive with the King's wishes for him that day. By mid-morning, the first servant may have accomplished more tasks, but the second servant, accomplishing less from a secular standard, will likely have accomplished more of real value. "Anger rushes us to judgment, and perhaps even to vengeance. Anger is soul-hurry. Patience is soul-unhurry. Fretting is soul-hurry. Peace is a soul unhurried and at rest. I hurry when I believe deep down that God is not watching over and caring for me. I rush to do for myself what I somewhere, deep down, believe God is failing to do for me." If I am honest with myself, I don't actually want to wait on God - a concept that is all over scripture. If I want something, I am quite capable of making it happen on my own thank-you-very-much. Not that this drive is all bad, but its extreme leads me to less sleep, more anxiety, and to be much less loving. Fadling also reinvented the parable of the Good Samaritan for me, suggesting that the religious men that passed the beaten man on the path may not have been as bad as we tend to label them. Maybe they really had good hearts, maybe they really were loving and well-intentioned. But maybe they were so focused on hurrying to accomplish their tasks that day - which may actually have been good tasks - that they failed to "unhurry" themselves long enough to help out someone placed directly in their path. Maybe they were too hurried bettering themselves and making good things happen in their world. How often are we hurrying about, perhaps doing very good things, so much that we miss opportunities to just be, to just love? How often am I as a mom so hurried that rather than taking time to honor my child's fascination with discovering their world, I rush them on, hurried to get them to the next planned learning experience or task? My kids are my greatest examples of, amongst many things in life, unhurried rest. ...more [notes] notes Notes are private! [recommender] recommender none [comments] comments 0 [votes] votes 0 [read count] # times read 1 [date started] date started not set [date read] date read Oct 26, 2014 [date added] date added Oct 26, 2014 [date purchased] date purchased [owned] owned [purchase location] purchase location [condition] condition [format] format Paperback [29] actions view (with text) [title] 
title An Unhurried Life: Following Jesus' Rhythms of Work and Rest
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