Pushing the pause button

Hello again friends! It's good to be back blogging...it seems like an eternity since my last post, although it's only been a month and a half. Now that I have had a few moments of down time, I feel like I can breathe again. Don't get me wrong, I loved our vacation in Malaysia, enjoyed touring around China, and am glad to have found a house in Germany, but all of that physically exhausted me!!

I saw an ad on the internet that said, "You can't pause life". I understand what they were trying to get across, but I don't believe there is complete truth in that because that's exactly what I did last week -- I paused my life!

After 6 weeks of non-stop traveling, non-stop movement, I decided to pause. On Monday I took 2 naps, stayed in sweats all day and did nothing! I thing that qualifies as a pause, don't you? On Tuesday I went out for about 1 1/2 hours, and on Wednesday I stayed home watching election returns and scrapbooking Christmas gifts until my husband took me out to dinner. I had officially paused life, stayed home, and loved it!!

I know that "pausing life" like I did last week isn't a possibility for us all the time because nothing would get accomplished and that isn't such a good thing. But in my case, a pause was necessary if I expected my body to continue functioning and my emotional state to stay at a normal level. I feel much better for it and realized that pausing life even for a few moments on a daily basis can be beneficial.

For many of us, we find that pause when we have our quiet times with God and let the rest of the world pass us by. Sometimes, it may just be sipping a cup of coffee and listening to the birds chirping at the first break of morning. Whatever it may be for you, I want to encourage you to take the time to pause your life, even if it's just 5 minutes. As the holidays rapidly approach, this purposeful pause may be more necessary than you realize!

With a major move in 5 weeks, more company coming, and bringing closure to my time in China, I'm going to need plenty of pauses. When things get hectic around me I'm going to have to find the remote control of my life and push that button! I won't feel guilty about it, but rather, I think I'll savor it more because I know the benefits that will come out of it. I pray you will find that too.

Now if I could just find that remote....