The Art of Pausing

Take a minute right now and Pause.

Take a deep breathe in and out.

Now read these words and let the poetic imagery fill your mind.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3

Imagine sitting on the shoreline overlooking a body of water without a single ripple in it. Notice the calm that it brings to your soul.

Now do it again.

Slower this time.

Breathe in and out.

I think it’s safe to say that we all needed that.

As the chaos of fall schedules is officially underway and many of us are thick into the season of sick kiddos, sports, fall parties and planning out the holiday season. It’s so easy to get more focused on your calendar than the life that is happening right in front of you. At least I know it is for me.

I absolutely love Psalm 23 for more reasons than I have time to share with you today, but I just think it’s so relatable to me in this season and I hope it is for you as well!

“He makes me lie down in green pastures” always stood out to me as an odd statement. I think most of us could agree that when you think of a green pasture, you see it as a positive thing. Especially in this context where we are the sheep, and the Lord is our shepherd. So why did the Psalmist use the word makes? Why would we need to be made to enjoy something that is generally seen as good?

Well, a few years ago this idea would not leave my brain so I ended up doing a deep dive as to why on earth a sheep would need to be made to lie down in something that is good. I came across the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller where he states:

“The strange thing about sheep is that because of their very make-up it is almost impossible for them to be made to lie down unless the four requirements are met:

1.        Owning to their timidity they refuse to lie down unless they are free of all fear

2.        Because of their social behavior within a flock sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with others of their kind.

3.        If tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lie down. Only when free of these pests can they relax.

4.        Lastly, sheep will not lie down as long as they feel in need of finding food. They must be free from hunger.”

This is us.

This is you.

This is me.

We are given so many green pastures, but we simply refuse lay down and enjoy them because we can’t get out of our own way. We don’t slow down and smell the roses because we are too busy. And for those of you who know me and my calendar, I’ll be the first to say that I am the problem. I think that’s why this verse speaks so much life into my heart.

So, what is causing us to be missing out on these green pastures that Jesus is offering us?

Busyness.

We are too busy to slow down and be in the stillness of God. We’ve allowed ourselves to become over-scheduled, over-worked and we are over-consuming content. We feed into the distractions that now consume our lives by allowing the endless notifications to interrupt our conversations and real-life moments.  

Everything that we choose to say yes to carries the added weight of saying no to something else.

Our schedules can and do get filled up in the blink of an eye. While each of those things sitting on your calendar right now are all wonderful things in and of themselves, they can really distract us from what’s truly important if we don’t take time to pause in the middle of them.  

“April sun pools into a dishwater sink, liquid daylight on hands. The water is hot. I wash dishes. On my arms, just below the hiked sleeves, suds leave delicate water marks…and I only notice because I’m looking for this..”

Ann Voskamp shows this so beautifully in her book 1000 Gifts where she views daily mundane tasks and chooses to see them for just how beautiful they really are.  

I would love to say that this is something that I’m strongly skilled in. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that every day I wake up, I have the best intentions yet somewhere between getting the kids out the door in the morning and tucking them into bed at night, I fail.

I think Paul said it best “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” Romans 7:15

If that’s not the most relatable verse, I don’t know what is..

I’m so incredibly grateful that each day I am made new. That by God’s good grace, each day provides a new opportunity towards a life full of intentionality.

It doesn't have to be anything complex. In fact, it's the opposite. It's as simple as taking a moment to pause to see the beauty the things that are right in front of you.

I think it’s human nature for us to put an unrealistic amount of weight on the big moments in our lives. Like, when we get our drivers license, when we graduate from college, when we purchase our first home, when we finally get that promotion we’ve been waiting decades for. While I agree that big moments are a big part of our lives. I think it’s also generally safe to say that those big moments don’t happen every day. There is a lot of time that pass in between those monumental moments in our lives. What if the small moments held more power than we gave them credit for?

“If you want to change the world, go home and love your family” Mother Teresa

It is so simple and straight forward, yet so powerful and transformative. It’s everything against what the world tells us to be doing and yet the truth is unmatched. It echoes the lesson that my mother has been trying to teach me over the past decade. To stop living my life where I am in a heart condition of waiting or chasing the big moments and to start paying attention to the little ones. When we look back at our lives, I truly think that we will look back at the little moments and realize how much they were actually the big moments.  

I know for me it looks like sitting down with one of my girls and intentionally listening to the highs and lows of her day instead of dismissing her while I’m trying to make dinner that doesn’t need to be made for another twenty minutes. Other times it looks like pausing wherever I am and taking five deep breathes in and out. Acknowledging my feelings and bringing my raw heart to Jesus.

Whatever it may be for you in this season, I challenge you to take moments in your day and pause. Slow down, notice what you need for yourself in that moment. Notice what your family needs from you need in that moment.

That phone call, email or text message. It can wait. I promise you, it can wait while we pause and create little-big moments with our families that will last a lifetime. I say this from personal experience, if you let those moments pass you by and try to re-create them when you are ‘available’.  You’re already too late.

You missed it.

You will never be able to get that moment back.  

So, I ask you, what would your life look like if you practiced the art of pausing?