Pause

The whole stadium is frantic. It’s the final minute in the last game of the season and the ball is thrown. The best player  in the history of the team makes the catch! The noise of the stadium is deafening. They are expecting Him to do what He is good at it. Score!  But, you see, He has this habit of shocking the audience. And He did.  Instead of taking the ball in for the winning touchdown, He stops puts the ball down to His side and pauses.  What is He doing?  Yes, you are seeing right, He is actually bent down in the middle of the field writing something on the ground.

The buzzer announces the game is over.  The whole stadium is silent.  Everyone watching is shocked and confused. The same expression is replicated in every face throughout the stadium. What is He doing?  And more importantly, why now?  Jesus, on another hand, seems more concentrated than ever. He is not only ignoring everything around Him. He seems enjoying what He is doing. 

I know this is not exactly how John describes what happened in the chapter 8 of his gospel when the whole town gathered around Jesus to witness the treatment that he would give to the adulteress, but somehow in my mind looks similar. Verse 8 is a killer.  There is Jesus in complete silence. Not a word. People are yelling, tears are being shed, the commotion that precedes a brutal execution is building up.  All eyes are fixed in Jesus and He seemingly ignores everyone and pauses. How is possible that in such a critical time He “loses” time?

And maybe that is the thing: God lives in a different timezone. Isaiah brings up the subject clarifying that He inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15), and since He is not bound by what we know as “time” His eyes locked in the important thing: people, not the schedule.

I’ve been pondering about the power behind pauses.

Within the pause is hidden a beautiful thing: silence. It is conceived in a pause and hides and reveals at the same time so many things that reside in the heart. The Jesus writing on the ground pause, for example, given enough time to every heart around Him to respond accurately to his very known invitation: 

“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” John 8:7

And we know the result. Stones hit the ground, not the woman. Forgiveness, restoration, and grace were given. Eternity interrupted the moment of crisis and Jesus was glorified. A world of a difference exists because Jesus’sheart beats in a different timing: one where pauses are important, phone calls can wait and a meeting can be rescheduled. 

Got to admit, this has been probably one of the most difficult things for me to learn. I like action, doing things and I love when Jesus does things. In my mind, pauses equate to losing time and opportunities. But the more silent I’ve been in His presence the more things hidden in my heart have been popping up. What power is hidden in a beautiful gift: silence.

Regardless of how trendy an over-busy schedule can be today, dear one,  I can assure you is a killer. Makes you believe that you are going forward, giving you some sense of achievement, while in reality we are just being numbed, getting distracted by the “do’s”  forgetting just tobe.

I had an invitation from Him today:  pause. In the middle of my schedule, plans, things to do and yes, crisis, He is there, writing in the ground waiting for me, for us. Come on. Join me. Let’s make a pause.