Seven Sacred Pauses: The Awakening Hour

Music is so much a part of my soul that as I sit in silence, praying and waiting, I hear music.  Songs that miraculously fit that exact moment.  Music is the way my soul communicates.  I’ve written about music and songs since I started this blog.

So I loved this pause.  First thing in the morning.  It is still dark outside and everyone in the house is sleeping.  For my first Awakening Hour I stood in the backyard and did stretches and breathing so that I could have my Bible available.  The second Awakening Hour I walked the neighborhood.  This hour is about remembering God’s goodness.  Jen Hatmaker says of this pause, “even after the darkest night, the sun will rise.  The Awakening Hour includes thankfulness for a new day, a fresh slate.  Ask for a dawning in our own soul…After the Night Watch this moment celebrates God’s intervention, His redemption.”

I stretched and exhaled and filled my bones with thankfulness for His mercy.  As I stretched to the sky, I heard this song echoing in my ears:

Waiting here for you,

With our hands lifted high in praise

And it’s you, Lord, we adore,

Singing Alleluia

If you chose to observe any of the pauses in your day, then can I recommend the Awakening Hour?  It is powerful.  This morning I couldn’t believe the silence.  The stillness.  On my walk, I didn’t see one car or one person.  God spoke some things to me that demanded action.  That promised not only a new day but a new person.  God intervening.  Redeeming. 

For you moms reading this, do you ever go in late at night or early in the morning when your child is still sleeping and just lay your face on his or her cheek?  I do it.  I lay my hand over his (or her) hand and kiss the warm cheek and can barely contain my heart thumping in my chest I am so in love with this precious creature.  I wonder if God feels like that?  When you kneel there or stand there or lay there and worship Him in the silence?  When songs expressing love and thankfulness echo up in the dark early morning hours, I believe that He must experience the unfathomable love of a parent, only more deeply since He is capable of such unconditional love.

Remarkably, despite being up until 1 am Monday morning and waking just after 6 am for this next pause yesterday, I wasn’t tired.  I normally would be exhausted.   And while this isn’t something I could repeat daily, I felt sustained by spending every three hours in reflection and quiet.  Moments at home logically could be longer than those at work, but the pauses served their purpose.  They refocused my mind on what mattered.  I got less flustered.  I felt less rushed.  I didn’t snap at my kids when I got home.  Amazing what praying seven times a day will do for your disposition and none more than this pause that begins the day with joy and thankfulness.

My guiding scripture for this hour was from I Thessalonians 5: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

I leave you with the song from my Awakening Hour: