transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] I'm Emily P. Freeman, and welcome to The Next Right Thing. You're listening to episode 389. This is a podcast about making decisions, but also about making a life. If you struggle with decision fatigue, chronic hesitation, or if you just need a few minutes away from the constant stream of information, and the sometimes delightful, but also distracting hum of entertainment, you're in the right place for discerning your next right thing. I'm an author, a spiritual director, and an occasional workshop leader. I live in North Carolina with my family, and through my work, I have helped thousands of spiritually thoughtful people overcome decision fatigue so that they can discern their next right thing in faith work and life. Many years ago, Barbara Brown Taylor was invited to be a guest speaker, and when she asked the host what she should talk about, he simply responded, Tell us what's saving your life. She writes about this in her book, An Altar in the World, and she says this, It was such a good question that I have made a practice of asking others to answer it even as I continue to answer it myself. Salvation is so much more than many of its proponents would have us believe. In the Bible, human beings experience God's salvation when peace ends war, when food follows famine, when health supplants sickness and freedom trumps oppression. Salvation is a word for the divine spaciousness that comes to human beings in all the tight places where their lives are at risk, regardless of how they got there or whether they know God's name. I think she makes an excellent point, which is why this is one of my favorite spiritual practices and I engage in it quarterly. Listen in. Some seasons, as you know, we are more aware of the ways we need our lives to be saved. For me, it's always good to keep a list and to pay attention to the small and big things that are saving me. It has been especially good for me this month. Maybe in hearing the things on my list, you'll be inspired to make your own and share it too. First thing that's saving my life this spring is making a list of wins. When I have setbacks or roadblocks, it's most easy for me to see everything that's gone wrong and all that is missing. It takes zero training to see the loss and the lack. In the midst of that place recently, my friend Amy Brown suggested, I keep a running list of daily wins, things that go well, things that go right or fall into place, no matter how small they are. Slow progress and tiny steps still count. This has saved my life. Thank you, Amy. Second thing saving my life this spring, Project Hail Mary on audio. You guys, I did not read this book when it came out, but when I saw the movie trailer, I wanted to see the movie, but I wanted to read the book first. So I just finished listening to it, and I have to tell you, I miss it. This is the book that got me out of my fiction rut I shared in my March end of month letter that if Jim Halpert from the office was a scientist, then you would get Project Hail Mary. Plus, the narrator has a older Kevin from the Wonder Years narrator voice kind of voice. So it's sciency for sure, which is not my typical genre. But when your real life has drama, it's nice to listen to space drama, outer space drama for a change. And I have really enjoyed it. I haven't seen the movie yet, but that's next on my list. Number three, the peonies are budding. I don't know what else to say about this, except that it's true and that I am so glad, so thankful that flowers keep blooming and the ground keeps on doing a new but familiar thing every single year. Number four, saving my life, friends who pinch hit for me. I was scheduled to be Shannon Martin's conversation partner on her book tour a few weeks ago. It has been on the calendar for months. I was looking so forward to it, but at the last minute, I was not able to make it. And so I asked my friend, Kendra Adachi, she is my friend, she is also my neighbor in real life. I asked her to step in for me and she did so gladly and beautifully and Shannon was so gracious with the last minute change and I was so grateful. Also, just FYI, small note, things I learned this month, I think I always thought it was pinch hitter. I thought instead of pinch hitter, it was pitch hitter. What? I thought it had to do with pitching. But no, it's a substitute batter who steps in for a regular player and it's fine. We don't have to talk about baseball, but it is something that I learned that it's not pitch hit, it's pinch hit. So there you go. We learned something new. Number five, saving my life, DoorDash. This has never really been a part of my life. We live in a town where it's very easy to run out in 10 minutes and get something. It's not like a giant city, like where we're always having things DoorDash. I don't know, I feel like people do that in the city. But this month, in the past couple of weeks especially, we have gotten some gift cards to DoorDash and we've used them and it's been fantastic. We ordered PF. Ching's lettuce wraps and salsarita burrito bowls, especially their chips. I don't know why those thin little crispy salty chips are so good. It's probably the crisp and the salt. But no matter, they have been a lifesaver. Number six, Saving My Life, Kate Bowler's new book, Joyful Anyway. An early line in her book goes like this. She says, all of us live inside of struggles that no one can entirely understand. Yes, girl, this is not a new concept. It's not a new saying. Kate Bowler did not come up with this concept or this idea. Many have said it before her. Many will say it after. But I will say this. It goes to show that when we're in a time of need, we are not looking for new. We are looking for true. We're not looking for new concepts or ideas that will entirely bring light to a situation. We're looking for familiar truths that we can rely on, that we can remember, that we can depend on when we're struggling. And that's what so much of this book has been for me. Books often save my life, and this one has come right on time. It's simple, but it's not simplistic. It's approachable, nuanced, and filled with hope and honesty. She offers in the book Joyful Anyway, as the description states, a case for joy that doesn't depend on everything getting better. I am grateful for the timing of it. Finally, saving my life this spring, the prayers of this community. I've said it on another episode. I said it in my monthly letter, and I'll say it again here. When I asked for prayer for my family, so many sent them my way, and one reader's words in particular saved my life that day. Reader Robin wrote, May your feet find steady ground, and your heart find steady peace. It's just what I needed. It's what I still need. May it be so for all of us as we continue to do our next right thing in love. Thanks for listening to episode 389 of The Next Right Thing. I hope this simple practice of naming what's saving your life can be just one more rung on the trellis upon which your rhythm of life can continue to grow. Because while it's true, this is a podcast about making decisions, the bigger truth is our daily decisions are making our lives. Speaking of our rhythm of life, one of the rhythms of my life is to have seasons of rest from particular parts of my work, but not all at once. I rarely take a break from 100 percent of my work for an extended period of time. I always laugh when people who listen to the podcast know that I took a break from the podcast, and they're like, I hope you had a wonderful time off. Sometimes I am taking a break from everything, usually in June. But usually, when I take a break from the podcast, it's because I'm turning my focus to a different part of my work. So I do find it necessary to pause certain parts of the work for a period of time in order to focus on another part. It comes with the territory of being a multi-passionate creative. I like to do a lot of different things, but I cannot maintain them all at the same time. And neither can you, by the way. In a few weeks, we will post our final episode of this spring season. And we'll have some time off in May and part of June, while one of our kiddos graduates from actual college, we'll take a family vacation, and John and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. But have no fear. You don't have to wait till the fall because in late June, surprise, we are bringing back Psalm Summer. Do you remember this from a few years ago? Right now, in The Quiet Collection app, you can listen to me read a selection of Psalms to you for free. These were our Psalm Summer episodes from the podcast from a few years ago. We've moved them over to The Quiet Collection app so you can get a taste of what it's like. But this summer, we will have six weeks of Psalm Summer in late June and all of July that you can enjoy. I'll remind you again in the weeks to come, but that's the plan for later. For now, we're not done yet with new episodes as we have several weeks to go before our little summer break in part of May and June. But I just wanted to give you that heads up about what to expect, and I'll remind you again. Well, as always, you can find me online at emilypfreeman.com or on Instagram at EmilyPFreeman. This episode was edited by the team at Unmutable and organized by Ashley Sherlock. In closing, here's a quote from Kate Bowler's book Joyful Anyway. I chose this, and I didn't. I want to fill my life with more, more happiness, more contentment, maybe some vacation time without my laptop. There's so much that's just not possible because, well, life. Sometimes we feel like we might burst because it's all so much. Too much. And yet, never enough. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.