Taking Time to Pause

While listening to a sermon - and thinking about my plans for the afternoon, getting directions to the Art Museum off my iphone, and planning the days ahead - I heard the word statio.  My mind stopped racing for a moment to learn that statio is the spiritual practice of stopping between events to pause.  To be present.  As evidenced by my own poor attempts at multi-tasking, I could really use this practice.As are many people, I’m often going from one activity to another in a rush.  While I hastily load my bag and run out the door, I hope the 15 minutes I allowed for a 20 minute commute will be enough.  There is no time to reflect and consider where I am going,  where I have been, or even where I am.  Somedays I get into bed unable to remember the previous 15 hours as one activity blurs into the next on these packed days.  My calendar is just too full to allow the extravagance of pausing, right?Wrong.  My hurried transitions are probably not a symptom of too many important activities happening at once.  No. The activities are a symptom of a larger unease with myself.  As long as I’m active, or proving it by seeming busy, then I’m doing something of worth.  My life is okay.  But the worth is often a veneer if it’s primarily based on external activity.  I don’t take time to look around at the story I’m living now.  Who is the person with whom I’m going to have coffee and how is Christ appearing through her?  What is my response to the book I just finished?  What am I thinking?  Where am I now and what do I see, really see?Even though I want to take time out, I often don’t get around to it.  I fear that taking even a small amount of time to look around may pull me away from the path I have carefully laid out or bring about uncomfortable vulnerability.  However, maybe the path needs to be changed.  Or, maybe I just need to be grateful and truly experience the beauty of the path.  The practice of pausing is a practice of place.  It roots one in the present moment.  Wouldn’t such a view of life be a relief?   In between events I can remember that I am human and God is God.Statio.  It doesn’t sound like a lot.  It isn’t a week-long retreat, a day of sabbath, or even a morning quiet time.  As I now start rushing through Lent and the additional readings and activities only seen to add to the chaos of the day, maybe this is the one practice that can make a difference.  Just stop and pause for a minute.  Just be.Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  Psalm 46:10