The Goodness of Limits

Family policy matters in engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina family policy Council hi this is John Rustin, presidency, family, and were grateful to have you with us for this week's program is our prayer that you will be informed, encouraged and inspired by what you hear on family policy matters and that you will for better equipped to be a voice of persuasion, family values in your community, state and nation, and now here's our house to family policy matters. Tracy David Briggs, thanks for joining us this week for family policy matters. We all know as believers in Christ that our lives are supposed to be marked by joy and purpose as we rest in well do you feel like your life is full of purpose, joy, and rest the time think Latinas and especially at certain times of our lives will Dr. Ashley Hales is here to talk to us today about this very thing as a mom, a pastor's wife and author Dr. Hales can certainly understand the lure of busyness that's constantly pulling on our lives. She's just finished writing a book entitled a spacious life trading hustle and hurry for the goodness of limitations and she's here to share some of what she's learned. Dr. Ashley Hales welcome the family policy matters to me.

I start off by explaining what you mean by a spacious life. I ran on 18 of the comment that he brought me out basis. Tracy rescued me because he delighted in and I think I looking for that basic place. God would lead her backside Stillwater green pastor and yet we tend to think upon our circumstances rather than dependent on our relationship with God, talk about how we achieve this. Listen to your podcasts you talk about embracing life's limits as invitations what you mean by that. Unfortunately, some of what we have learned by birthright to the left of the world is that our limits are something that we need to control or we ignore them or push them off. We try to network our limit our limits.

We think of as barriers that are limit normal God-given natural human limit that we all have actually indication to knowing God and Jesus, who is both fully God and fully man and each of his limits are often an invitation to to practice and to God because we are. They began to walk off this pull yourself up by Everett Schatz keep hustling, keep hurrying place. I long for it can happen one day in the future when they get a promotion, or when I'm on vacation.

Actually, once we invitation then we can find spacious place. Eileen and I even when our circumstances are not ideal, and I think of Paul. He talks about he's he had learned the secret of being content and what letters were written. Of course, in jail, an imprint bench and so that contentment that we all long for the base circumstantially.

I limits actually invitation into that sort of contentment. That's a wonderful example about Paul but can you also give us a a two-day example of that modern example to create margin based in my calendar has been one thing that actually brought a lot more peace. I think it's easy to say okay for all the volunteer opportunities at church. I get all the extracurricular activity and limits on our time that we can actually enact our values, whether it eating dinner on the table as a family or as a family are individuals working to go do that sort of mercy ministry activity are just getting to know our neighbors impacted the quality once we actually put limits on some of the things like time are using social media find that there is an actual piece that Greg is so you talk about saying no. Here aren't you and that's a really difficult thing, isn't it firm for a lot of people. Yes, it is to just say no is to learn how to accept the know God is another way in which we choose to say that my life and not my own, and all of our little small deck itself can often be ways in which we are pressing into the limits of our actual lives, not as something to get angry about our despite actually they hate Jesus you be in this with me.

So, are there some disciplines that help you.

I guess I'm wondering when you find time to write a book or a mom you're a pastor's wife. Are you an early riser, or what's the key to that for you. A lot of got rewritten during the pandemic and that was our children were all home and we were homeschooling them and so a lot of the early morning have been taken out for a long hike I get a few hours for the work in the office is realizing that sometimes there limit the other people are implicated site ended up turning the book late and I think probably there is a lot of met with the how publishers had hoped Boxwood Co. given the covered 19 crisis and yet this realizing that I limits they don't borrow from community that they actually encourage other people to help carry that load for us and we can help. I love that I love the idea that if you think you can do it all and if you try to do it all, you're not leaving room for others, and so that's a great point.

You mentioned how important rest was and I don't think you use the term practicing rest, but it sounded somewhat like that. Why is it important for us to consider rest.

Kind of a discipline in our lives what you know I love that when Jesus was baptized audible voice.

You're my friend. I love Jo Calvin telling a person to have done anything. He already had the pleasure of his father. From that place that we rest there so much to the creation of the world and benefit plan where we actually the day starts in the night they start in rest or were vulnerable and that we don't actually have any ability to earn our our rest and I think we in America we try to work really hard and then we collapsed that we cycle between cycles of production and an escape and gift of rest is something that is informative to actually say just like Eva is called the letter that we are also given rest first and from that rest, that were able to work and so even practicing the discipline of a weekly status return in my family have been there. We wanted to be celebratory. Even the start of activity that remind us that our primary identity as a God child and that we get correct any Jesus rest on the boat stormed true and really we don't have anything to prove by our work either practicing rest, putting away or found to be plugged in the kitchen. 8 o'clock at night and not on screens until midnight take you to do something that's delightful that you can actually sleep because ultimately the practices help us to remember that we are God's child, and he can rest their weary.

You also mentioned Paul and how he was imprisoned for so much time and that was productive time for him little bit about how you might accept some of the limits that God imposes on your life. What is what is your thought process like when you're trying to sort through that. I think a lot of time specially made it to about I have really shot against the limits of my life. I had a PhD and if I would read all over ending global cities, and if it can run basically be unchanged and yet we found ourselves and like everybody in braille fees and the pain in my realizing your life doesn't make you look like what you had planned Wendell Berry because we live. But, given life plans and I think I wish someone special in my early years of mother had told me that our limits are something to fight against that there actually something to press toward unfair part of what look like for me is choosing to bring my anger made my lack of being able to lead Jesus because I think now a decade later.

Some of those earlier limits of yet another had I really reap the benefits of to see that God is more concerned about her character than he is about what we accomplish and sometimes our limits are the exact things that we God to medically express our anger and our lament to him, actually shape us into the person that I want that to be like this book is so timely because of the season that were in with cold and I know people that are listening will find that there a lot of disappointments they may have thought over the last couple years we were going to travel or you know I was starting a business and then there's been a lot of illness and of course we've had to change her plans quite a bit because of that, but sure you wrote a book so so there is that sense isn't there that we gotta trust God with this time, especially as a world in a nation that were in the middle of her true. We've always been limited, but the last year has really shown start release what our limits are and I think when the pandemic started a new language to make sourdough bread.

All of the thing and we realize we were just so emotionally exhausted from the whole world feeling like it had been turned upside down and so I think that many people have feathers they have read places like a like a breath of fresh air, though I think that encouraging to me as an author but for future readers.

I realize there so many things written out there about you need a hostile right you need to show that you're worthy anything that our work is what binds us an idea of freedom as something that we achieve and that were only three months. We can always make any sort of choice at any point and every life that makes us really Finley connected in our communities, and at also been connection to deep and I think I just want to encourage that we don't need probably point in our lives more arguments right now everywhere but we actually need invitation and the face of life really is an invitation into contentment and wealth through those hard limits that we all have to you mentioned arguments in there so much contention and we look around and there just seems to be so many areas that are calling to us to get in and fight. So how do we justify resting at a time were there just seems to be so many disturbing things happening around us in our country and our world. One thing I keep coming back to a little bit from thinking that the allergenic treatment talks about being a non-anxious private letter that in parenting or on the Internet or in your work and I think you beautiful way of thinking about that sort of spaciousness background when we are hidden in Christ. When we have our primary identity and his beloved child as we wrestle to our limits with God. We have got our card I just blocked off that we will be in the places that God has called us to be non-present, and whether there is a sense in which rest helps restore eyes so that we can then participate in the work that God is already doing. I think so much of the anger and the victory that we see across the political spectrum all across the board is because ultimately we think that our idea yeah whatever idea might be really going to be the linchpin in our lives to give it meaning and yeah I think we can still fight for project status and for hearing and for wholeness, but when that is not our thing justify best when it becomes hey I believe God cares for this group of people and never I want to be participating in that it will make our town much less anxious, much less vitriolic and practice the thing, as we learn to hide ourselves in Christ then enables us to do good work. Well, great.

Thank you so much. So besides your book, which, of course, this is a new book you have others, but this new book is a spacious life trading hustle and hurry for the goodness of limitations. Besides that, you also have a podcast so tell us where we can find that so we can continue to learn from you.

Thank you for finding holy podcast and you can find out where ever you with your podcast. You can also get that link at my website and within directly on my website@aa.com/contact and love can't continue the conversation. Thank you, thank you Dr. Ashley Hales, thank you so much for being with us today on family policy matters listening to family policy matters. We hope you enjoyed the program employment to them again next week to listen to the show on want them to learn more about into families work to inform, encourage and inspire families across both a lot of website into family.award that's into family.org books again for listening and may God bless you and your family