Pausing

 

‘Practise the pause. When in doubt, pause. When angry, pause. When tired, pause. When stressed, pause. And whenever you pause, pray!’ (Lori Deschene)

And so, here is another confession!

Every year in the days preceding Advent, I tell myself that this year I am going to try and pace myself through Advent and take time to pause and ponder and pray. I tell myself to ensure that I find the time to reflect and worship, to take time for people and take time for God.

And then, every Advent it gets to around this time and the hectic reality of the last weeks and days before Christmas begins to descend and the stress levels begin to climb, and the time I promised myself for pausing, people, pondering, pacing and praying gets squeezed out. Most years, by the time it gets to Christmas Day, and the crazy activity of the preceding days comes to a sudden halt with the pronouncing of the blessing at the end of the Christmas Day Service, the adrenaline that has been keeping me going completely disappears, and in spite of presents, dinner and family, I just want to sleep!

And every year I tell myself that next year it has to be different, and every year it is just the same!

And today it has hit me again that I am getting stressed and time is running away from me and....

...and – pause.

Pause and breathe.

Pause and rest.

Pause and pray.

Let us all learn to pause this Advent time even in the midst of the busyness... especially in the midst of the busyness!

There are more important things to attend to than simply ‘getting it all done’!