Hard Happens

Hard happens.
When it does, it’s important to pause.
Jesus did.
When he got word of his cousin’s death, Jesus took off to be alone – to be quiet and alone.

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Matthew 14:13a

I imagine this pause was a time of prayer and reflection for Jesus, a time to lean into the pain over the corruptness of the world and the loss of someone he loved.
Do you give yourself a break?
Do you ever give yourself a break?
How often do you hit pause when hard looms large and relentless?
Today, hard was hitting me full force.
It was time for a pause.
The 60 degree weather on this Indiana February day and lots of sunshine beckoned me outside.
Deep breath and an ahhhhh!
Am I all better?
Far from it. But this pause created breathing room – a place and space where the Spirit moved, stirred and revealed.
I’ve got plenty of healing work before me to pray and process through the hard I am facing.
I will need “planned pauses” too, where I can safely move into the valley of the shadow of death, whatever form of death I’m facing – the death of dreams, control, people, purpose. The list goes on.
Jesus knows desert treks, dark valleys and hard days. I am never alone.
Neither are you.
Still, my tendency is to distract myself from these “matters of the heart.”
Work becomes my detour as I attempt to skirt around the pain.
Detours can be attractive, but they forfeit the healing that can be mine.
Pause.
Planned and unplanned – hit pause.
Hard happens, but hope has the final say.
When was the last time you hit pause? How often do the demands and distractions of work keep you from matters of the heart?

First time here?