By Heather Spiva 
“Pause!” said my youngest son, setting down this PlayStation console and heading to the bathroom for a quick break. “I’ll be right back.”
My sons loved to play video games together a while ago, and they would have a set amount of time to play. While my youngest was about 10 years old at the time, he hadn’t quite got the concept that saying “pause” to real-world events wasn’t how life worked.
It was the gamer in him, I suppose. The kid who knew that to push play was to play, and to stop was to pause it. Of course, he would say “pause” to go to the bathroom. That’s all he knew!
I wish we could pause our everyday lives like that. I find that a simple 15-minute break interspersed with the daily grind allows me to stay grounded in a slow-movement way of life—a lifestyle that focuses more on being in tune with what is true, real, slower, and authentic rather than what the world portrays as the way to live: false, fake, fast, and untrustworthy.
Slow living is a way to connect with those we love doing things that last long and fulfill us like deepening friendships, learning more about our family, and, mostly, just slowing down to see the beauty around us.
Just this Easter, my mom, two sisters, and I assembled at my mother’s home to celebrate with our families. It’s always a wonderful family time. We were in the kitchen trying to figure out what temperature to set the oven to cook the salmon. My mother’s oven display is very dim so she leaned in trying to get a good glimpse of the temperature setting, pressing in on the oven door in the process.
What she didn’t know, and we didn’t know, was she accidentally turned on the self-cleaning button. This locked the door, and we couldn’t open it! Fortunately, the salmon wasn’t in the oven yet, and we figured out how to turn off the cleaning button. But we had to wait a good 15 minutes until the oven was cool enough for the door to unlock and for us to get back to cooking.
So here was a forced respite. And what did we do? The four of us stood in the kitchen and talked. We laughed, joked, took a selfie, and talked about what we wore to church and other details of our lives.
That was the only time the four of us got together to talk that day. The only time. We were busy the rest of the afternoon and evening with our families, organizing an Easter egg hunt, getting food ready, eating, and watching a slideshow of my parents’ recent road trip to the East Coast. Everything else but talking.
There was no strict “girl time” talk between us four except for those 15 minutes. How was that possible?
Looking back, I realize what a blessing those forced 15 minutes of rest were. I’m thrilled my mom accidentally turned on the self-cleaning button. It allowed us to bond, communicate, show each other our love, and create fun. We had a blast waiting for the oven to cool.
It also reminded me we all pause our lives regularly. Pause to get back to connecting, pause to let go of the seriousness of life and see the humor in everything, pause to find peace and bring joy to our lives.
Find the pauses. Find a way to take a 15-minute break regularly to rejuvenate and bring our bodies back to the slow-living lifestyle. Find those quiet (and often hilarious), God-filled moments waiting for us to reach out and take for a happier and more fulfilling life.
by Alison Wright 
