Finding Grace in the Pause

We the People are hovering between our memories of and fights for deliberate, respectful compromises made using a forward-thinking understanding and openness to the realities of others, and the more contemporary decisions made without such concerns, but within the corrupting influences of power-hungry self-interest. The stark, dark consequences embedded within these differences greet us daily, leaving me reeling, aching with disappointment and endlessly seeking signs of hope.

“Time for a Pause,” I hear myself murmur, “like what your Yoga instructor called those moments when you could stop moving in and out of difficult poses, regain your balance, relax, rebound, breathe slowly . . . and fold into yourself, your thoughts flowing into the nothingness, only aware of your heart’s whispers.”

The Pause - an intermission between what aches and what holds hope.

For me, an intentional Pause means to gently fall into the silence, using that space for my conscious, busy mind to go quiet . . . aware only of my soul’s sighing, those quiet expressions from my son, landing softly in my heart. This time I heard only 8 words: we are one in sickness and in health.

Eight words, unexpected and confusing. These are marriage vows, yes?  But Matt was single, never saying those traditional words to another; I picked up his slack, repeated them twice – each time committing to care for relationships, beyond myself.  

Oh, that’s it . . . Beyond the self; moving as one within relationship; vowing to care for others.

From Mother Teresa; “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other.”

“We the people” – that’s still us, right? – find ourselves living with little to no peace. Have we honestly forgotten that we’re inextricably tied together as a nation of communities? Really? … we don’t care that our thoughtless behaviors and ego-driven decisions affect others both directly and indirectly, over and over, on and on? Today’s answers to those questions make my heart ache.

When the noise and aching disappointments seem overwhelming, slip into the Pause.

Close your eyes; place your hands, loosely open, on your lap;

take three very deep breaths; disengage your shoulders from your neck;

and gently lift the corners of your mouth and your facial muscles into the smile position.

Let your thoughts drift into the dark beauty of nothingness as you wait for your heart

to warm you in its grace.

Pause there, in that space. Sink into the gracious silence and listen for the peace and hope held in this truth: we, all of us, are one, belonging together in our sicknesses and our health. With love, we, tied one to another, will always hold the power to move toward helping heal one another.

You are love . . . and are loved

Jane