I don't know about many of you but my wife and I have a DVR (Digital Recorder) with DirecTV in our home. We jumped into this about a year and a half ago when we moved into our new home. We'd heard many great things about DVRs from our friends about being able to fast forward through commercials, record shows onto a hard drive and not video tapes, and then being able to PAUSE live TV. I have to say that this has been one of the coolest things that we own in our home. We're able to keep up on several shows we like, such as Survivor, while not needing to stay up late. We can record shows during the week and then catch up on the weekend.
This reminds me of a valuable lesson that I thought would be good to end the month on with Thanksgiving and Christmas season just ahead of us. The PAUSE button, as many of you I'm sure are familiar with, allows to put a hold on something you're watching so that you can attend to something else that is important to you at that moment. Although many of us think of the PAUSE button on things like iPods, VCRs, DVD players, video cameras, and video games, there is an even more important PAUSE button that I'd encourage you to hit from time to time.
Hitting the PAUSE button when it comes to ministry is a necessity, not an option. Sometimes we can get so caught up in doing ministry that we rarely ever take time for ourselves or our families. We take PAUSE moments in our work weeks to have lunch with friends, students, or ourselves to get away from the office. When is the last time that through that you just hit the PAUSE to spend time with your spouse, with your kids, with your extended family or maybe all of them.
We need to remember that in ministry God, as I understand, intended us to love and keep Him first, our family second and then ministry third. Hitting the PAUSE button allows us time to make sure these priorities are in the correct order. We all need to escape for a brief period of time to make sure that we're keeping the main things, the main things ... to recharge and reconnect with those that are most important to us. It allows us to take some time to get our focus off of ministry and to those that are important for us to stay in ministry, our families and our Heavenly Father.
With Thanksgiving this week and Christmas rapidly approaching, I'd encourage each of us to hit the PAUSE button. Use this opportunity to get away and disconnect from ministry for a few days. Spend time loving on your family, extended family, and friends. Spend time connecting with your Creator for more than just your next devotion or teaching lesson you share with your students. Don't talk about ministry at all. Talk about life. Catch up on life and be in the moment with each of them. Love sincerely and ask some tough questions about how you've been doing in the area of hitting the PAUSE on these areas of your life. Ministry can wait for a period and we will be able to re-engage it when the time is right so that we can tend to the things that are most important now.
May each of you be blessed this Thanksgiving! Take time to PAUSE, recharge and reflect on the things and people that you are most thankful for. Thank Him for the many blessings that He's given you. Thank Him for the relationship that you have with Him.
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