The Practice of Pausing
The calendar has turned to September and the days are noticeably shorter. Summer has passed. Recent rains and cooler temperatures have reminded me that fall has arrived. Sitting outside in the evenings is pleasant as I watch the long shadows of evening lengthen and the light fade as I eat my supper. Here I am awed by the beauty of each day, the song of a mockingbird high in the tree, summer lobelias and dianthus still blooming in their pots, the bright blooms of crêpe myrtles and chrysanthemums, long shadows, wispy clouds, and the setting sun. Here too, my thoughts have turned to the people who have been part of my day, both those who walk beside me and encourage me and those who cross my path and test my patience and love.
I have been pausing, though certainly not every day, but as often as possible, for almost three decades to stand still and quiet for a moment and watch the day fade into night, and as it passes, I have looked with gratitude for the good and the beauty in the people and the places that have been a part of my day. I treasure these moments of quiet pleasure.
Live Life Deliberately
Henry David Thoreau once wrote in Walden or Life in the Woods, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
I too wish to live life deliberately, and to live life well. And while perhaps some days hold significant events such as a birth or a death that make them more memorial, every day is valuable. Psalm 90:12 in the old King James version says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” While I love this verse in the King James that I read as a child, perhaps the New Living translation is a little clearer as it reads, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.”
And Fredrick Buechner speaking of the word ‘today’ in his book Whistling in the Dark writes, “If you were aware of how precious it is, you could hardly live through it. Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all.”
Give Us This Day
So often when we are young, we are focused on the future, some day ahead of us when we get married, have children, land that dream job, move to that idealistic city, or whatever it is we think will make us happy. But in looking ahead, sometimes we miss where we are today.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, his focus on the future was communal, “thy kingdom come,” but when praying for individual needs, he taught his followers to simply pray for today. “Give us this day our daily bread.” While I think our daily bread certainly represents our physical needs for the present day, I think it is more than simply what our bodies need for sustenance, our soul has a need for food too. I am reminded of the answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism which states: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. I think there is within each of us a longing to enjoy and glorify our creator.
And God longs for us and has given each of us today and it is filled with precious fleeting moments. These contain our daily bread. Yet often we have so many things we feel we simply must do that we dash quickly through the day trying to check everything off our list. And while it may temporarily appear we have accomplished a lot; I wonder if we have failed to do the very thing we were created to do, and in our failure, we have missed the very thing we were given -today.
Rejoice and be Glad
The older I get, the more I am aware of how quickly each precious day passes. I don’t want to waste the moments I have been given or squander them in hurrying through my day. And I find I must ask myself almost daily, “Have I lived my life deliberately enough that I have been thankful for or have even noticed the beauty and value in the people, places, and moments that have filled my day? Have I seen God in these moments, in these people, in these places, and found pleasure in them?
And so, even as it closes, I remember, “This is the day that the Lord has made,” and like the Psalmist, I “rejoice and am glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)