Taking it easy

Thanks for the encouraging comments to my last post - it seems that time out is something of a luxury for many of us!

There's an ancient Christian tradition of 'slowing' which is referred to by John Ortberg in his book 'The life you've always wanted' (naff self help type title, good book - I've probably said this before) - it is something that i have sought to undertake, as a kind of spiritual discipline, something that i do consciously to remind me of God's call and sway on my life. It involves simple stuff, not always rushing to get to places, weeding out the diary so there is plenty of time to travel, driving in the slow lane, deliberately choosing the longest queue at the supermarket and that kind of thing - not exactly rocket science, but when it becomes part of the fabric of life it creates a whole new mindset. Of course i am my own worst enemy when it comest to this, as recent posts would attest, but when i do follow this course i find my attitude is calmer, i sleep better and feel refreshed and i enjoy things more. As well as this i have more time for prayer and both silent and noisy meditation. But more on that another time.

In a week or two expect more posts saying how busy i am, but for now....

Comments

Tom said…
I actually hadn't thought about slowing down quite like you said. I certainly hadn't thought of picking the longest line in the grocery store.

Worth thinking about.
1:14 am
Polly King said…
Hmm. I hadn't heard of this book, but the blurb on Amazon is intriguing to me. I agree that God wants to be part of our WHOLE LIFE, not just our "spiritual" life. I may have to pick this one up. Thanks a bunch!

Polly
3:31 pm
Jem said…
I read a quote the other week, think it's G K Chesterton 'to catch a train you must always miss the one before'.

Liked your life application!!!
4:17 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trying to connect the dots, unnecessarily

Image
Another sermon - as seems to be the way of this blog at present! Life is busy and complicated, and good, and bad, and exciting, and challenging, and (in short) not conducive to getting Blog posts written! So, here's my thought for today taken from these passages (Click for details): Exodus 16:1–5, 9–15,  Psalm 78;18–29 Mt 13.1–9 Grace and Meaning In the words of St Paul, or perhaps St John, or maybe St George, or even St Ringo “When I was younger, so much younger than today.” Ah, sorry, couldn’t resist!  No, it’s not a tubby boy story – but just a general reflection that today’s story from the book of Exodus used to cause me great consternation.  Or at least was one of those parts of Scripture that didn’t seem to fit… I knew the story, the mythological story I am now convinced, of the temptations in the wilderness when Jesus proclaims, quoting Deuteronomy 6 ‘you shall not put the Lord your God to the test’. As I moved into the Anglican Church and ...
Read more

A Sermon which upset someone

So, I'm not a theological conservative.  That probably comes across in pretty much everything I write, but I thought I should say it.  I believe myself to be orthodox, however, and hold to those things which the Church expresses in the catholic creeds.  I also have a relatively 'high' theology regarding the inspiration of Scripture. But I am not a Biblical literalist, nor do I hold to a doctrine of the infallibility of Scripture. I can't.  The Bible is too rich, too deep, too difficult, too flawed for that.  And by flawed I mean I understand it to be the record of human beings trying to make sense of God at work.  It has the breath of the Spirit blowing through it's words and on every page, but when we try and make sense of God there is a chance we will go awry.... 'Hey lets condemn (and or murder) pretty much everyone who isn't in our tribe, that's obviously what God wants' kind of awry.  And if we study this book carefully then we see that ideas ...
Read more