A Time to Pause

Life has been hectic of late. While I absolutely loved the travelling adventures in June, I did come home to a very busy life. I struggled with a sense of disorientation and perhaps, discontentment. And before I know it, July is almost gone!

I continue to remind myself that life is filled with ups and downs; otherwise, we would not be able to fully enjoy the ups and grow up during the downs!

This weekend has been a time of literally doing nothing - it was as a result of reading a blog entry by the senior pastor of Christian Life Gospel Center about taking time out to "pause."

Does this necessarily mean that we need to change whatever we are doing? Possibly, but I think God actually wants to go deep and look into our hearts. It is not so much what we are doing but why and how we are living. I believe God is taking us to a place where He wants to work on our "being" first so that our "doing" comes out of who we are i.e. our being. I feel as if God is doing a work of re alignment in our lives and that involves coming back to our first love as many have shared. But I think more than that, He is re-creating us and teaching us new ways of living and being. It's a deep work and we must make the time and space for God to dig deep and work in us.

In my moments of "pause," I was reminded of the movie "One Night with the King" which I recently saw with a group of friends. The story was about the bible character Esther, a peasant girl who became queen for such a time in history when her obedience to do what is right in God's eyes, despite the danger of losing her own life, saved a nation. The secular story of Esther is void of Christianese, yet it speaks volumes about God's sovereign move towards directing man's and the king's hearts toward fulfilling God's plan for his people.

In today's context, this was (once upon a time) my story within the corporate jungle filled with infamous characters surrounding money, sex, and power! It's a difficult story to tell and lest I cause you to hold your breath too long to the point of suffocation, let me assure you that I came out of this slightly scathed but definitely victorious. I survived to someday tell of God's sovereignty and faithfulness to his people ...

But today is not the day to tell this story! My story will have to wait for another time. Rather, the nuggets of truth that comes out of moments of "pause" was beautifully expressed by another this past Sunday. It was not a story of Esther, rather a story about the modern-day dealings with once-upon-a-time passions destroyed and made alive once again.

Take a moment to "pause" in life. Take time to listen to this! (Sunday Celebration Service, 22 July 2007)