Scripture
Psalm 46: 10a
“Be still and know that I am God,”
Matthew 6: 34
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Reflection
I have been wondering lately about this idea of pausing. Partly this has come about because I heard a radio announcer asking about the latest hockey game that was going to be streamed on a streaming service and he was wondering if you missed the beginning of the game, could you go back and start the game over. That was an interesting question and in reality I did that a number of time this summer with baseball games. That is the one thing about streaming services we can hit the rewind and, sometimes more importantly, the pause button. Now let’s be honest most of us hit the pause button when we want to get a snack from the kitchen, or when we have to head to the bathroom (I know too much information). To hit the pause button gives us time to take care of some of those things that we need to take care of without missing anything. I remember a time when there was not pause button, and we would have to wait for that inevitable commercial to take care of those things.
There is a fad going around with young people who are struggling. There have been a number of them who have been getting tattoos of a semi-colon on their wrists, hands, or forearms. The semi-colon indicates a pause when reading, for these young people who are struggling with mental health issues, it is a reminder of for them to pause, in the midst of crisis, pause, in the midst of challenge, pause, when things are going very wrong, pause. It is an interesting and very simple concept. But I saw where it had been taken to another level.
I saw an image of flash (which is a more difficult way of saying a design for a tattoo) where there was the word ‘hope’ with a semi-colon immediately following the word. This made me wonder about the idea of hope found in the midst of a pause. How might we find hope in a pause? I have been wondering about this since I saw that design of that tattoo and my mind came to the scripture from Psalm 46. This small 1/2 verse of scripture reminds that in the midst of pause is where we might just find God. I think that that is a challenge in today’s world, where we are constantly bombarded by images, demands, challenges, by the world. It is so easy to be distracted by everything us and I wonder what happens when we get overwhelmed. I know that, in many ways, for myself, when I get overwhelmed I have a tendency to put my head down and just continue to try to move forward. The challenge with that is that quite often we end up beating our heads against the proverbial brick wall, or we continue to try to force that which we need to let go of and move on. To pause is to take a step back from what is happening and to just be, in that moment, whatever that moment may be. I think that this is something that we might have forgotten in our world that seems to be whirling at an increasing fast pace. We have forgotten how to pause and just ‘be’ in our lives and in doing so I think that many times we miss the opportunity to feel God with us. When we pause we might just find God in the midst of all that is happening in the world.
How does hope fit into this idea of pause? I wonder if we lose hope when we lose connection to God. When we don’t feel God’s presence in our lives, the world can seem so chaotic, so challenging, so confusing, and just too much to handle. When God can’t be found it might just be too easy for us to try to find that spiritual nurture in the world, we might try to fill that void with things that are fleeting, things from this world that don’t last. So when we pause, when we take that moment to step away from the confusion of the world, from all that challenges us, from the constant struggle, we might just find God and in finding God find hope once more to move forward, knowing that that presence of God is with us, even in the midst of all that this world offers. So let’s celebrate that semi-colon, let’s push the pause button for more than just a snack or bathroom break, and let us look for God in those in-between moments. Finding God in the pause might just be what we need in order to continue. Be still and know that God exists in that still moment, in that pause. For God is with us, we just need to pause and feel that truth.
Prayer
God of all moments, help us remember to pause, in the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the confusion, in the midst of the challenges, help us to pause. Give us the wisdom to find you in those moments of pause, for us to be still and know that you are there, in that stillness. Give us the courage to know that you are with us, even when we can’t feel you with us. We ask this in the name of the one who was our gentle example, your son, Jesus. Amen.
Comments