“If you could see
the journey whole
you might never
undertake it;
might never dare
the first step
that propels you
from the place
you have known
toward the place
you know not.

Call it
one of the mercies
of the road:
that we see it
only by stages
as it opens
before us,
as it comes into
our keeping
step by
single step.”
~Jan L. Richardson, from The Painted Prayerbook

Today I am marking a very special anniversary. Special to me at least. It is on that MIT have slipped by me if our web designer and tech guru had not made me aware of it. A few weeks ago he walked into my office with a funny smile on his face. “On January 5th you will have been writing Pause for five years. That’s more than a thousand posts, you know.” We both looked at one another with a surprised and puzzled look.

Since that time I have been thinking about how this daily reflection began as a daily Advent post which simply invited people to stop in the midst of some of the busiest days of the year to check in with their spiritual life. It was aimed at the church community I serve and no doubt reflected whatever theme we had chosen for that particular season. I fully intended to stop writing it when Christmas rolled around and the dark days of Advent were over.

But what happened for me during those days and weeks was amazing. I found that I had discovered another way to pray. By staying awake, as the Advent scriptures urge us to do, I had glimpsed the multitude of ways the Holy shows up in the everyday experiences we call our lives. Not only had I glimpsed it but I had been transformed by these encounters. Transformed in ways I could not have imagined and still have little language to describe. It was then that I realized I could not stop writing. I could not stop inviting people to press ‘pause’ for a few minutes of nearly every weekday with the hope of setting aside at least those few moments to check in with themselves and with however they choose to name the More. After years of trying to contrive a daily practice of prayer, that practice found me. It was as if the Spirit said, ” Now you’ve got it!”

And so five years, a thousand posts and one book later, here I am celebrating and feeling such gratitude to those of you who have taken the time out of your days to read and often respond to things I have written. I thank you for reading and for, in a sense, praying with me. I thank you for the stories you’ve shared and the questions you’ve posed. They have made my life richer.

A person never knows what will happen when they take the first step on any new endeavor, on any new journey. It is wonderful that this celebration which I hold today falls on Epiphany, the day on which those in the Christian household honor the long journey of the Wise Ones whose travels took them places they never imagined. As I begin the sixth year of this journey of staying awake, I invite you to join me. Join me as a reader, as a watcher, as one who welcomes the twists and turns of their own sacred journey. But also feel free to respond or send your ideas of what you’d like to see in these pages. I welcome you input, your insights, your own encounters with the Holy.

Thank you for praying with me……..