Pause: A temporary stop in action or speech.
Punctuate: To interrupt periodically.
Over a year ago I went to a beautiful local spa thanks
to my husband and kids. I am always in heaven at a day of pampering. I went in
for my massage and the masseuse talked a bit much for my taste. She kept
telling me about all my knots and she was making suggestions of things I needed
to do to take better care of my back. I was thinking “Lady, I am trying to
relax not be lectured about all the things I need to do.” She obviously hadn’t
seen my to-do list that never ends! As I was leaving the room she said to me “Don’t forget to punctuate life with a pause.”
I simply looked back at her and smiled.
“Don’t
forget to punctuate life with a pause.”
My brain started working on over time. What did
she say? What does that mean? I have multiple journal entries trying to dissect
it. Here we are over a year later and the words have not left me. I ponder them
often wondering what God is trying to say to me through them.
Well over this past weekend we attended a Family
Life, Weekend to Remember, event. My husband and I have been married 5 ½ years and
this was our first marriage conference. We didn’t go thinking we had a lot to
work on but we were simply just excited to have one-on-one time together. We
were having a great time until a bomb dropped. In one of the sessions the
speaker declared “At some point in your
marriage all of you will have an extra marital affair.” The room audibly
gasped.
I did not.
I knew exactly what was about to be said and I
knew I was about to be busted for my affair.
The fact is over the course of the last year and
half I have been having an affair with this place and space. Cravings gets all
my extra energy, it gets my evenings, it gets my minutes when the kids are
napping, it get my creativity, and I have finally had to admit it gets more of
me than God, my husband, and my family do.
GULP!
As I was internally processing all of this the
words “Don’t forget to punctuate life with a pause” rose up inside of me. Over the next session at the conference we
were given a project to write our spouse a love note sharing why we fell in
love with them, why we are thankful for them, and what our hopes and dreams for
our marriage are. I attacked my love note with a lot on my mind. When we were
done my husband asked if we could read them out loud to each other. GULP! again.
I knew what I had said and didn’t think I could make it through my letter. But
I tried. After lots of tears and confession I committed to my husband to being a
better wife than I had been. I committed to passionately pursing being the best
wife I could be!
I know what that is going to mean for me. I know
the things I am going to have to do differently, I know the choices and at times
sacrifices that need to happen and here is the best part I don’t feel the
slightest bit worried about it. I feel released! I feel like I am going to: Punctuate
life with a pause!
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or
vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own
interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4
Honestly, I haven’t been this excited about
something in a long time. And when I am excited things get just a tad bit
crazy!
I don’t know where you are right now? Maybe you are in the midst of your own affair?
Maybe your family and spouse are getting the last bits of you? If so can I
encourage you to stop, take a deep breath, and punctuate life with a pause?
P.S. – I am not disappearing. I am simply hitting
the re-set button.
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