28. The Pace of Grace: Breaking Free From Hustle and Hurry

We’ve been told that exhaustion is normal. That being “busy” is just part of life.
That rushing, hustling, and constantly doing more is the only way forward.

But what if that’s not true?

In this episode of the Living Whole and Holy Podcast, I invite you to reconsider the pace of your life through the lens of the Gospel. While Jesus lived a full and mission-driven life, He was never hurried, never frantic, and never disconnected from the Father.

So what did He know that we don’t?

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, stretched thin, or stuck in a cycle of busyness, this episode will help you rediscover a more peaceful, Christ-centered way of living, the pace of grace.

In this episode, we discuss:

•  Why busyness has become a false badge of honor
•  The difference between being busy and living in a state of hurry
•  How hurry impacts your relationship with God and others
•  Why Jesus was never rushed—even with a full mission
•  The root of hustle culture and performance-based identity
•  How your schedule reflects what you truly value
•  4 Disciplines Jesus Modeled for an Unhurried Life
•   Practical Ways to Live at the Pace of Grace

Scripture Mentioned

• Mark 1:35 — Jesus withdraws to pray
 • Matthew 14:23 — Jesus prays alone on the mountain
 • Mark 5:22–43 — Jairus’ daughter
 • John 11 — Lazarus
 • Mark 4:38 — Jesus rests in the storm
 • Matthew 11:28–30 — “Come to me… and I will give you rest”

When you live from identity rooted in Christ instead of striving, from prayer instead of pressure, and from trust instead of urgency, your entire life begins to shift.

Connect with Carrie:

Follow Carrie on Instagram @livingwholeandholy

Schedule a Free 1:1 Catholic Coaching Clarity Call with Carrie

Transcript

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Welcome to the Living Whole and Holy podcast, where the Catholic faith and intentional living come together. I'm your host, Carrie Jane, a recent Catholic convert and Catholic coach, here to guide you toward a life that's rooted in Christ, centered in his love, and aligned with God's call. Whether you're a convert, revert, cradle Catholic, or simply exploring the faith, you're in the right place. Join me each week to hear inspiring conversations, including conversion and reversion stories, timeless wisdom from the church, and practical Catholic coaching tools that help you deepen your faith and intimacy with Christ, cultivate Christ-centered habits, and be transformed through the renewing of your mind. If you're ready to discover and align to the beauty and richness of a fully integrated Catholic life, you've found your home. I'm so excited you're here. Let's get started. So a lie that we all hear is that you're exhausted and it's normal. So you're feeling exhausted, and the world is telling you that that's just normal. When you ask someone how they are, they typically answer, I'm so busy. And I know I've been there too, and I hate using that answer when someone asks how I am. Busyness has become a badge of honor and it's almost become an identity. But let's think about the busiest person who's ever lived, Jesus Christ. He lived his entire ministry in about three years. But have you ever considered that though he was busy, he was never in a hurry and he did not hustle. So many of the women I've been coaching lately, and and I've seen it in my own life, the temptation is there to get overly busy, even with things related to our faith. But we can end up rushing, hustling, frantic, and exhausted, and then we don't prioritize God. And none of this is normal. I was in adoration, and the Lord really inspired me to talk about how hurry is not holy and moving at the pace of grace leads to a more peaceful life. The world tells us to hustle, but Jesus shows us how to live a radically different life. And I don't know about you, but I would rather follow what Jesus says than what the world says about how to how to live my pace of life. Being busy is a matter of your schedule, but choosing to hurry is a matter of the soul. When we choose to be busy, it really does affect our soul. It usually affects the first two commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. When we are rushing and hurrying, we don't prioritize God. We don't treat the people around us as well as we could. Jesus is the perfect example of how to live a full life where we serve others purposefully and in obedience to our Heavenly Father, and also that this life can be lived at a peaceful pace without the need to rush, control, or perform. Jesus was indeed a busy man. However, not once in the Bible does it describe him as being rushed. Jesus healed countless sick people, he preached to thousands, he formed 12 disciples, and he defeated sin and death. And yet nowhere in the Bible does Jesus appear frantic. Jesus never hurried, yet he accomplished everything he needed to. And how often do we tell ourselves that we have to hurry so we accomplish everything? Like, oh my gosh, my to-do list is so long. We wake up and immediately think about everything we have to do. And we think if we hurry that it's actually going to get done faster, but hurrying actually makes things slower. And Jesus is the example of someone operating not from earthly anxiety, but from divine obedience. So, how can we live at the pace of grace like Jesus did? The answer is not in what he did, but how he lived each day. So I want to share four key disciplines. Jesus exemplified in order to live his life radically different. And he is inviting us to do the same in modern life so that we can live more at his pace. Discipline one, he withdrew to pray constantly. The key word here is constantly, not once in a while, not when he could squeeze it in at the end of the day, not when it was most convenient, but constantly. It was a non-negotiable part of his life. Jesus made it a habit to retreat into solitude and prayer, particularly when he had a lot going on. And I know Mother Teresa is famous for saying, you need your prayer time, but when you're busier, you need double your prayer time. And that's not the exact quote, but she emphasizes that the quote unquote busier we get, the more we need to pray. The Gospels tell us that Jesus retreated by himself, away from others, not just for rest, but to spend time in communion with his heavenly father. This is where he grew in intimacy with his father. And scripture gives us specific examples of this. In Mark 1.35, rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. Mark 4.23 says, After he had dismissed the crowds, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. Jesus decided to live an unhurried life to enjoy time in the presence of his father. It was a pattern, it was a habit, it was a rhythm of his life, and it's a rhythm that we are invited to follow. Think about your own life when you do not prioritize prayer, when you do not put him at the center of your schedule first and simply just give him whatever leftover time you have, or whatever time is convenient. You end up more hurried, exhausted, anxious, and ultimately disconnected from him. Discipline two. Jesus' heavenly pace allowed him to trust in the Father's timing, even when those around him tried to rush him and instill fear in him. There's two examples in the Bible. One, where he was unhurried on his way to heal Jairus' daughter in Mark 5, 22 through 43, and when he visited his friend Lazarus, who was about to die in John 11, 1 through 43. As hard as it was not to cave into the pressure and the opinions of others about how he needed to rush to get to where these people were, there was fruit when Jesus had perfect trust and was obedient to the will of his heavenly father, rather than operating from human urgency or fear. And the fruit of that was he raised both of those people from the dead. So Jesus is really inviting us here that when circumstances look hopeless and God's timing seems slow, that's he's actually never late. His timing is always perfect, even when it doesn't feel like it. Discipline three, Jesus embraced rest without guilt. This can be very hard for us. Even while the storm came in the boat in Mark 4:38, Jesus slept and rested when the disciples around him were frantic. This is not weakness, it's the fruit of a soul completely being at peace with the Father. Jesus honored the Sabbath, he shared meals with friends, and he received care and hospitality from others. His pace was not a monastic withdrawal from the world, but a rooted peaceful presence within it. And this Jesus we follow is an unhurried savior. And being formed and maturing in a Christ-like manner really does require a capacity for slowing, enduring, listening, and waiting. Hustle culture is the opposite. It says resting is lazy and weak. And Jesus says resting is worship. Discipline four. His identity was secure in the Father's love. And you've heard me in many episodes on this podcast talk about we can either live in an identity rooted in Christ or in a performance-based identity. And the deepest reason Jesus was never hurried is because he knew exactly who he was and whose he was. At his baptism, the father spoke, This is my beloved son, in whom I well pleased. Jesus didn't earn the Father's love through productivity. He didn't earn it through performing miracles and healing the sick. He rested in it. This is the root of all hustle. We're trying to prove our worth through achievement. And God is calling us to do something radically different. Our worth was declared at our baptism just as it was declared over Jesus at his. And so you don't have to earn what has already been given. So, how can you begin to organize your schedule and live your days to more closely mirror the pace of Jesus? I want to invite you to consider taking one or two of these suggestions to prayer this week. So the first one is prioritize God so that you put him at the center of your day and then schedule everything else after that. Give God the first moment of your day before the world gets it, and also think about him and pray with him as the last thing you do at night. Our inclination is to grab the phone first thing in the morning and then scroll at night right before bed. But scrolling is actually not restful and it does not get us closer to Jesus. Number two kind of goes along with the first one. Consider taking an audit of your schedule and build margin into the free time that you do have. So all of us have free time. We have time that is obligated to work or childcare or any other thing in your life that is not something that you're able to rearrange right now. But the free time that we have, that's where we can build margin. It's important to ask, how much time are you actually giving to the Lord? I heard Father Mike Schmitz once say, you can tell how much of a disciple someone is by looking at their schedule. We really do make time for what matters most, and we all end up worshiping something. So is your schedule and how you spend your time reflecting how close you are to Jesus, or is it indicating that you might be worshiping something else? Until we begin to see how we're actually spending our time and maybe where we're wasting time and not giving time to God, we really can't make any changes. So I do invite you to leave some space in your schedule that is not filled, that free time that you have. Look and see where you're overscheduling and give yourself some free space. Let that space also be an act of trust and obedience and see what he wants to put in there. Maybe he will surprise you. Make intentional time every day to retreat to your Heavenly Father. And this can be first thing in the morning. Personally, I like to do 30 minutes of prayer when I wake up in the morning, but you can build up to that. If 30 minutes seems like a lot, you can start with five and then 10. And then maybe you do 15 in the morning or 15 at night. I will say though, that when you start your day in the morning with prayer, it really sets the tone of your day and really helps you to get rooted in him. And then you can usher him into all your activities before your day even starts. I also encourage you to make an appointment with yourself for a weekly holy hour. That's what I do. I know Fridays from eight to nine is my holy hour. It's set, it's in my schedule, just like I would schedule a doctor's appointment. And our brains really like to follow a plan. So once it's in there and you get into the habit, your brain just goes, okay, it's Friday at 8. I'm going to my holy hour. And I would say, see how you're spending your time and see if it's leading you to the greatest version of who God's calling you to be. Or if there's something that you're doing that's really taking away from that. I did an episode a few episodes back about using your phone as an intentional tool. If you don't use it as an intentional tool, it becomes a distraction. And a good question to ask ourselves is is what I'm doing on my phone edifying or is it taking me away from God? The third thing I invite you to do is stop multitasking. When we focus on being present to one thing at a time, whether it's a work task or listening to your spouse or your friends or playing with your kids, you really give that task or those people your full attention. The more we multitask, the more we we're actually in a rush and we're not really present to those around us. And spending intentional time with others is such a beautiful part of life and it can be such an amazing form of rest. So take advantage of those precious moments and really be in them rather than trying to do multiple things at once. Number four, stop filling your mind with unhelpful and untrue thoughts, like I don't have time, I'm never gonna get this done, or I'm crunched for time. That's when I find myself saying sometimes, and I have to catch myself. Cause these thoughts just lead to feelings of anxiety, pressure, and more hurry. We all make time for what matters, and this may require taking some things off your plate, having to say no, or setting healthy boundaries in order to open up your schedule. I want to remind you that time is a neutral concept and you have the authority to decide whatever you want to think about it. So you can think thoughts about it that are helpful or thoughts that are really unhelpful and untrue. The fifth thing you could consider is to remember your baptism. You are already a beloved daughter of God. You have nothing to prove, so you don't need to rush and try to get things done so that you'll get the approval of God because you already have his approval. You are his beloved daughter in his eyes. So, in essence, Jesus is not asking us to do less, he's asking us to be rooted differently. And when you start putting some of these things into practice, you'll notice that you're able to live at a more peaceful pace. And I want to invite you to anchor into Matthew 11, 28 through 30. This is one of my favorite verses, which is come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Remember that you can put your burdens at the foot of the cross. Every time you go to mass, I heard a priest say, never waste a single mass. You can always offer up a mass for anything you're struggling with, anything that anyone in your family or friends are struggling with, anything. Jesus really calls us to cast our burdens on him and give us that rest. So I hope this episode inspired and encouraged you to slow down, hurry and hustle less, to reconsider your schedule and to live at the pace of Jesus. Really start practicing some of these ways that Jesus lived because he is the ultimate example of how to live at the pace of grace. I hope you have a wonderful week. God bless you, and I'll see you next time. Thanks so much for tuning in to the Living Whole and Holy podcast. If you're ready to dive deeper into life coaching from a Catholic perspective, I have a few spots available for one-on-one coaching. This is an amazing opportunity for you to work with someone who will empower you and support you to dream again with God, find more alignment, peace, and confidence in your life, and be the greatest version of who God is calling you to be. I would be so honored to support you on this journey. Send me a DM on Instagram at Living Whole and Holy for a free one on one call to learn more. If this episode blessed you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend. And remember, instead of doing what makes you happy, do what makes you holy. Until next time, God bless.