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SLOWING DOWN & PAUSING


Do you ever find that you're reading Bible passages or saying prayers quickly? Do you ever find that you rush into your prayer time, or that you go from one activity to the next without any space or 'gathering yourself together' in between?

Jesus was busy but he made sure to live at a slowed down pace and to pause between activities. He wasn't even in a rush when one of his best friends, Lazarus, was dying.

Many of us need to learn to slow down and to pause. When monks and nuns pray together in chapel they practise slowing down and pausing. They enter chapel 5-10mins early so that they have time to find the pages they need in their books and so that they can sit silently recollecting themselves before the service begins. Once their service (Office) begins, they say their prayers at an unrushed speed and they pause half way through each sentence. Doing this a few times a day helps them in the unrushed and recollected way of life that we see in Jesus.

There will be lots of little things that you can do in your own life to slow down a bit, have more pauses, and live in a more unhurried and mindful (e.g. 'recollected' way). This might include slowing yourself down when you read the Bible or pray, adding little moments of silence or of 'pausing' to your day, arriving slightly earlier to things and taking a moment to recollect yourself before each activity.

You might think of other ways of slowing down and pausing more in your own specific life. Why not experiment with what helps you...