Episode 332 - Alan Fadling, "An Unhurried Life, A Year of Slowing Down"

Welcome to another episode of "Restoring the Soul with Michael John Cusick." Today, we're diving into a profound conversation with Alan Fadling, author of the the devotional book, "A Year of Slowing Down: Daily Devotions for Unhurried Living."

In this episode, Michael and Alan explore the necessity and impact of integrating brief, intentional moments of reflection into our daily lives, especially in a world that often feels rushed and overwhelming. Alan shares his journey from living a hurried life to discovering the transformative power of small, consistent practices that nurture the soul. They discuss the concept of a "five-minute retreat" and how even just a few moments each day can bring about significant spiritual formation and peace.

Alan also delves into his previous works, "An Unhurried Life" and "An Unhurried Leader," and explains how his new book serves as a practical companion designed to deepen our understanding of living an unhurried, Christ-centered life. The conversation is filled with insightful advice on how to cultivate these life-giving rhythms, including practical suggestions for slowing down, engaging with Scripture, and fostering community.

Transcript

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Some of my podcast listeners know that when I do a conversation, even if it's somebody I've never met and if I barely have read their book, I have an opening question, I have a closing comment that I think ahead of time. And so I have my opening comment and then we'll just see where the conversation goes. Why another devotional book? That's fair. There are many of them, aren't there? For many years. Well, it's very interesting. My first impulse was not to write a devotional. I. I kind of don't like that word. Sometimes it feels like sort of a book of little bit of inspiration to start your day and then, you know, put it aside and go on with things. What I really wanted to do was write a book that would be a formational companion to my first two books on Hurry, An Unhurried Life and an Unhurried Leader. Those are books that introduce the ideas. I wanted this book to be a formational experience of those ideas. I envision them as like a five minute retreat that somebody could take every day over the course of a year and that they might find themselves somewhere different when the year came to an end. Yeah, thank you for that. Because in a conversation with you, you had told me that the idea was a five minute retreat. And I love that because there's so many people that I know that go, oh, I would love to be able to go to the Sacred Heart Monastery in Sedalia, Colorado, and be in the mountains and spend time just walking and pray, reflecting and maybe meeting with some spiritual directors, but I don't have the time for that. I can't afford to do that. But you actually have this important and I believe, true idea, that five minutes a day of reflecting, being still and actually getting access to the content that you wrote in those other two books that that can have a formative, transformational effect on our lives. Absolutely. Well, if you brush your teeth every day, that will have a formative influence in your physical life, you know, and if you don't, that also, I just think you need to pray as you can. Don't pray as you can't and retreat as you can. Don't retreat as you can't. And so start where you are. Five minutes can make an immense difference. I like how practical that is. I have to confess that I often look out on the horizon and I say, I don't have time for that or I'm not in a rhythm to do that in my life right now or my schedule is overbooked. And therefore, if I can't do that, then I won't do anything. And I like the encouragement to do what you can. What I'd like to say is think of it as planting a seed. Five minutes probably to plant a seed, but if you tend it over time, it'll grow into something. So that five minutes might grow into something. I like that. So I told you before we hit record, and I think as I prayed, that my true confession is that I was really looking forward to today. I've seen this on the schedule now for a while and yet I drove quickly to the office. I arrived here about six minutes before I clicked on the studio app and I just found myself hurried. And so I need this book and I do want to talk about the book for a moment. And so it's 365 days. It's a year long devotional, but you don't have it with January 1, January 2, etc. You can pick it up anywhere and it says day one, day two, day 365. Talk a little bit about the first two books. I know we visited about those books for a previous podcast, but what are the big ideas behind the Unhurried Living Model and way of living? Well, so an unhurried life, really the seed of that in many ways was about what would it look like if you envisioned your discipleship to Jesus as following an unhurried Savior. So that was a big picture imaginative vision that I wanted to paint because I think sometimes our vision of Jesus is Jesus is the one who gives me more jobs to do at church or, or if you happen to be in paid ministry, then you could almost imagine. Not very well, I don't think, but you can. Jesus is your boss. Well, Jesus has way more than that. And so in that book I wanted to paint a picture of Jesus as unhurried enough to pray even when the crowds were at their biggest, that he was unhurried enough to stop for the one on the side of the road, even when there were lots of people vying for his attention. He was unhurried enough to see temptation coming and to say a simple, gentle no. You know, he was unhurried in all the best ways. I wanted that first book to be about a vision of following that unhurried Savior. Unhurried Leader was an attempt to answer again the fear that some leaders have that unhurried means unproductive. It might even look like lazy. I use the language of unhurried with leaders and they all start getting nervous. Like I'm going to tell them to cut their to do list in half or something. And that's not it at all. What I want to say is you will be at your best out there in your places of leadership and work if you are doing it from a rested soul. Good leadership and good work grows from the soil of good rest. So that was really at the heart of an unhurried leader. And so then this book, A Year of Slowing down, is an attempt to unpack those a little in a formational way, in a simple daily way. So that's kind of how I envisioned those three relating to each other. And all of that grew out of your story because one of the things that I really enjoyed hearing about when we spent time together in Wichita was how you have faithfully journaled and written and specifically how a lot of the entries from this weren't necessarily you sitting down saying, I'm going to start at 1 and go to 365 and write devotional, but that this really was and is a lot of your devotional writing. So can you talk some about your a your own story with living a hurried life and a hurried way of seeing Jesus as not an invitation to unhurried life, but also how the book came about from your own journal to this? Sure. Well, so in many ways this journey begins when I'm in my late 20s, I am newly married, I am a full time student at Fuller Seminary, and I'm full time on the staff of a large Southern California church. And it won't surprise anybody that I was getting a little tired and I really defined my life by how much I did. I am what I do. Henri Nouwen says that's one of the temptations to identify ourselves in the contemporary culture. Well, I was in that with both feet, both hands, everything. And it was exhausting me. And I had a crisis. It wasn't really a crisis of faith, it was a crisis of ministry. And the crisis was this. I can't keep doing this the way I'm doing it for another few months, let alone what I'd hoped would be a few more decades. And it was at that time that God brought a few mentors into my life, one of whom invited me into the rhythm of a day, a month where I would step away to be in the presence of Jesus for no other reason than to enjoy the presence of Jesus. That was a rhythm that began my recovery from hurry. And I wouldn't have even used that language then, but it was. It was a recovery that I'm still in. I still will catch myself in that hurry of anxiety. Or that hurry of, what's everyone else thinking? Or that hurry of, oh, I'm not doing anything. Oh, no, I must be a nobody. So all of that is still a recovery process that continues, you know, 30 years down the road. As far as the journal part, coinciding with that moment of beginning to practice, this month day, a month of solitude, was page one of my journal. The very first time I had one of those days. And again now, 11,500 pages and 7.6 million words later, it's a journey that continues. And really, my journal is a place where I wrestle. It's a place I can. Where I confess, I don't want anyone reading those pages. It's a place where I think out loud. It's a place where I capture meaningful moments with God. And so when I came to writing this book, really, I went back and reviewed past years and captured some little vignettes here and there that felt meaningful to me, that eventually ended up forming this book. When you went from saying, I don't know if I can make it in ministry a couple more months to spending that one day a month with Jesus, what was that like to make that transition? I imagine it could either be wonderful and a big, deep sigh, or it could be little anxiety producing to go into the deep end of solitude. So I think my answer would be, it was both of those. There was a part of me that was concerned, oh, no. As though productivity were simply a math problem. If I take a day away a month, I'm going to get less done. I mean, that day is by definition not going to be a day where I'm planning things or managing things or whatever. But what I discovered, the wonderful side to your question, is I discovered that that day was a day I remembered who I was. It was a day when I remembered who God is. And I brought that back to the other 29 days. And that made all the difference. I suddenly, instead of defining my work in terms of how many things I got done by the end of the day, I started defining my work by things that I think matter more. Like, did I help people? Did I enjoy God? Was my soul at rest through the course of this full day I happened to have, and that over time, has made a great deal of difference in terms of the focus of what I then do when I'm engaged in my work. Coming back from those moments of disengaging. You have broken the book down into three parts, and there's three major themes. Talk about those themes. Yeah, essentially, you know, I pulled these excerpts from all over my journal for over many years. But when I decided to organize them, I basically used the flow of scripture as a framework. So the very first entry is an entry from Genesis. And the first three months are rooted in the Old Testament, mostly the Psalms, because I've spent a lot of time in the Psalms over the years. It's the prayer book for us. The middle six months is really rooted in the life of Jesus and especially in the Gospel of John. Most of those entries are from John. And then the last three months are really the church, the New Testament going out to the book of Revelation. And there I'm talking about the church as an unhurried community. So that's. I sort of wanted to show what this unhurried life might look like over the whole story of, of scripture. Talk a little bit about an unhurried community as you've written in the book, because a lot of people will be thinking, well, community as soon as I do that. That means more meetings, more potlucks, more attending church. And that's not at all what you're really discussing there. Yeah, I think one of my mentors, he had a sentence he that he loved to say and I've captured it for myself and that is the church is people. In the end, the church is people. Now sometimes those people meet in buildings and sometimes those people gather in scheduled events. But mostly the church is people and therefore it's people in relationship with God and people in relationship with others. And I think we sometimes end up with an awful lot of meetings where people aren't interacting much. They're hearing somebody share insightful words perhaps. But I just think one of the great needs for the people of God is to be in interactive settings where they're sharing their lives, where they're hearing from one another empathetically with love, and responding to one another. Sometimes even small groups can end up being watching a video together or a DVD together and then maybe talking a little bit about what that said. But I think there's a genius in the early church. All those one anothers require an immense amount of relational space. And that's what I'd love to see, us as churches providing people. And therefore the order of how these themes play out in your book is that if you can do five minutes a day of slowing down, maybe you can slow down in community. Because that immense amount of space is such a precious commodity in our world today. No, it really is. We have this habit, I think, of just filling our lives with what we imagine are a list of Things to do, do, but mostly our lives, when it's all said and done, are people to be with in the presence of God. Now, even the, the tasks that I have to do, everyone's got tasks, but the tasks matter because of the people they bless. It helps me when I slow down to remember whatever the task happens to be when I am sitting in this office by myself, still the work I'm doing is going to bless people that I'll speak to in a while or who might read this little email or whatever it is. It's that people orientation that I slow down to that makes a great deal of difference for me. What are your top three ways that you would say to someone? All right, my life is frazzled. I'm very hurried. I don't know where to begin. I have your book, I'm committed to and have been reading it, doing this five day retreat. And I know that you make some of these recommendations in it, but what are the top three things that you'd say to somebody if they say, oh, I want to develop that kind of an unhurried rhythm. So in the spirit of the devotional, this idea of the five minute daily retreat, what I want to say is little things start small. So for example, experiment with taking a walk. If the weather permits, do it outside in your neighborhood, even if it's just five minutes, or if you're at the workplace, if you can, when you get a break, just take a walk. Don't look at your watch to see how many steps you took. This is not utilitarian. When you're walking, just notice what surrounds you. Look, listen, feel, be present. Now, at first that'll feel impossible, but again, five minutes, over time that can make a great deal of difference. You begin to realize your life is more than your job. Your life is more than your work. Your life is more than the tasks you finish. Your life is immensely bigger than all those things. Well, so a little five minute walk can make a great deal of difference. So let me interject and because you know me some, I think you'll know I'm being facetious. I want to say to that. But Alan, that's, that's so unspiritual, just going for a five minute walk. I mean, I'm not talking to Jesus, I'm not reading my Bible. I'm not down on my knees telling him how much I love him. And so you're referring to something that's as simple as a five minute walk without measuring your steps. No productivity. And you're saying that Is spiritual? Absolutely. Because you happen to be walking in a world God made, you happen to be walking in the context of a lot of critters that are God's unique design. Of course you enjoy God with you. But we sometimes measure our spirituality and how many spiritual practices we do, which becomes oddly self focused. And what I'm talking about is instead of measuring your spirituality mostly in terms of doing, you can also measure your spirituality maybe better in terms of being. And that little five minute walk may be an exercise in simply being, being in the creation, being with God, being with yourself. I think that makes a great deal of difference. And I also like to ask people when they've said to me, X, Y or Z doesn't feel very spiritual, well, what level of joy does it bring? And that if it brings joy, that's a fruit of the spirit. Right. And therefore it's a spiritual activity. So what's number two on your list? Well, it's a little more challenging. It's not the five minute thing. But I would say in the spirit of what I shared earlier, once a month, find a little bit of time. Maybe you can't find a day that sounds overwhelming. So start where you are. Can you find an hour? If you can find an hour to watch a television show, you can find an hour to be in the presence of God. And what I would say is find a place as close to you as you can. It's a coffee shop, it's a library, it's a park, it's a lake, whatever it is, and just be in that hour with God. Don't be there to read a Bible passage, don't be there to practice eight spiritual disciplines. Be there. And maybe begin that hour by saying, God, how would you like to be together today? And then don't say anything else for a while and see what comes to mind. And if all you have at the end of that hour is a little bit of rest and a little bit of a quieter soul, you might find that immensely valuable. So that would be another experiment I would encourage people to try again. It's not a big to do list. It's just we all need time to not think about all the stuff that fills our lives. And that's this opportunity, I think. Yeah, I love the simplicity of that and I love the gentle challenge of if I can find an hour to watch my favorite TV show, then I can find an hour to do this. And most of us can probably relate to the fact that, that our TV show turns into multiple hours of tv. It sounds so Refreshing to just go sit on a park bench and to do nothing in the presence of God. Number three. Yeah, maybe, you know, for those of us who are, you know, would describe ourselves as followers of Jesus, I want to talk about how we relate to the Bible. In my early years as a Christian, the big challenge was read through the Bible in the year, like we're in the NASCAR event called Bible reading, you know, and I've just come to a place where I like to stop and slow down and sink into a line or two or a verse or two. So my third challenge would be find time, Whatever your normal engagement with scripture happens to be, find a moment to open to the psalms. Let's say, pick a psalm, read it until a line grabs you, and stop there. Talk to God about it, say thank you for it. Ask a question about it, ask for God's help for that to be realized in your life. So an unhurried way of engaging scripture, I think for many of us would really help a lot. We're not trying to achieve Bible reading. We're trying to listen to God. And the scriptures are a place where God's voice echoes throughout. And slowing down to hear that voice in the written words is a great benefit. Thank you for those three practices. I wonder if you would take a couple of minutes. I know that this is not the focus of your book, but I sure think that you. You have already addressed it in terms of how your book emerged out of your own journaling over the years. And it's very impressive, by the way, that, you know, the number of words and pages. I'm very impressed by that, especially because my journal consists of about 15 different paper journals, all of which have about 10 pages in them. And then it got put off somewhere in a cardboard box. Yeah. Would you talk about if someone has heard you. Oh, journaling, wow. And that actually led to what I'm reading in the book. How does someone start journaling? And what are some pointers that you would have? Because I run into people all the time going, yeah, I tried to journal. Didn't work for me. Yeah, no, I get it. And, you know, to be fair, journaling may not be absolutely everybody's cup of tea. That's okay. Everyone's wired a little differently. I'm an introvert. I'm a thinker. I think by writing, it ends up being a great discipline for me. But the first thing I would say is, write in your journal as though no one will ever, ever, ever read it. I think one of the reasons journaling falls short is we write our interesting insights and we go about an inch deep into our lives. Whereas a journal is meant to be a place where you pour out your heart. What are the things that you've struggled even to admit to yourself? Can you be just one bump more honest than you usually are with yourself? What are some of your hopes? What are some of your desires? What are some of your regrets? What are some of the things you want to be free of? I mean, the journal is a place to have a conversation with God and with your own soul. And I think when you can tap into that reality, it brings the practice to life. If the journal is just a place to record your Bible study insights, that's good, but it's the intersection with soul dynamics that for me has kept it a living practice for 30 some years. And what do you mean by soul dynamics? It's the what's happening inside of me place. You know, sometimes I've been depressed but wasn't aware I was depressed. And so it just sort of became this environment in which I lived my life. But like the psalmist, I could say, why so downcast, O my soul? I could talk to that place within me. You are so low. What is that? What's going on there? Why do you feel that way? And then to talk to God about it? What would it look like, God, for you to lift me up from this low place in which I find myself? So soul dynamics are learning what's happening inside of us so that we can cooperate with God in the context of our actual lived experience. So, Alan, as we close out, would you give us the honor of reading from your book A Year of Slowing down? Just one of the entries, sure. Well, this turns out to be Day 101. The title is Closing the Gap. The scripture is, the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John sees Jesus as the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world. He draws this imagery from the experience of sacrifices of lambs and other animals in the temple they were offered as payment for the people's wrongdoings. I've sometimes heard these words in a way that sounded like Jesus coming to address my criminal record and secure for me a pardon. There's truth there, but I need a broader vision of Jesus as Lamb of God. This means that if sin is relational separation, Jesus comes to take that away as well. Jesus comes to remove every barrier and gap between people and God. Jesus wants everyone to come to the Father Jesus isn't just a good attorney, He's a good friend. When I feel distant or even separate from God at times, Jesus comes to take away anything that creates such distance. When I may be tempted to focus on how I've stumbled or strayed, Jesus comes as the Lamb of God to address these realities in my life. Our work on behalf of others is carried out in that same spirit. When God gives us someone to share the goodness of Jesus as Lamb of God with, it's about helping them see him for themselves. Jesus wants to reveal himself to each of us as the one who brings us close to the Father by the Spirit. Jesus offers himself as the one who reconnects us with God. He refreshes our religion and brings it back to life. How have you felt distant from God recently? Let yourself envision Jesus coming to close that gap and draw you in close. Alan, thank you for reading that and I cannot recommend this book enough. I started out the interview with asking a little bit of a provocative question of why another devotional. But I asked that because I'm a big fan of 365 devotionals. I've never been the read the Bible in a year guy. I've actually never finished every attempt to do that. One of the things I love and you just reminded me of this is after each daily entry there are one or two questions for people to reflect on. And as you read the question, the thing about the questions are they just feel like a really natural extension that as the author that you would be wrestling with as well. So thank you for this book. Again to listeners. I strongly recommend you pick up a copy of A Year of Slowing Down Daily Devotionals for Unhurried Living and give yourself the gift of that five minute retreat. So bless you brother. Thank you friend. It was so good to spend some time with.