Pause

As I pause to look out my window at the blowing snow….

As I pause to begin the book “Sabbath Pause”….

As I pause because my orange cat’s paws are trying to pry my fingers from the keyboard….

I realize how frantic life can become, how busy with things we deem important for the moment, how confused our priorities become.  And then something happens like a snowstorm and blizzard-like conditions that make us all pause whether want to or not.

Today’s Bible readings for most protestant churches were chosen many years ago.  Yet, today’s Psalm 147 couldn’t be more perfect:

God spreads snow like a white fleece,

   God scatters frost like ashes,

God broadcasts hail like birdseed—

who can survive God’s winter?

Then God gives the command and it all melts;

God breathes on winter—suddenly it’s spring!

It amazes me when things coincide like that - a snowstorm and a Psalm written thousands of years ago chosen for today.  Fills me with awe for an amazing Spirit who puts all things together at the right time.

So, as I pause, I invite you to pause as well and consider joining the small group I’m forming to spend 7 weeks in daily practices using Terry Chapman’s “Sabbath Pause” book.  Bring the book and come to my place on Sunday January 19th at 4pm.  (Be aware there are 3 flights of stairs and no elevator.)  We will meet the third and 1st Sunday for 7 weeks and commit to spending time each day pausing to “build a bridge that spans the gulf between our hectic lives and the time-honored tradition of Sabbath.  Together we will explore rituals of transformation that may empower us to move from the chronological quagmire in which we are stuck to a spacious, simple, separate and sacred Sabbath.”

Whether you come to the group or not, enjoy this weather because soon God will cause it all to melt and suddenly it will be spring!

God’s peace be with you!

Hope