October – Week 3

Joy Jacobs* has been a teacher for close to 30 years. Her teaching experience was gained in South Africa and Botswana. Her understanding of “pausing” was a quiet, uninterrupted place away from people, a tranquil place somewhere in nature. She has walked 16 years with the Lord and testifies to his faithfulness, goodness and mercy. God has laid older folk on her heart in the last couple of years, often forgotten, sometimes misunderstood, and mostly lonely and alone. Today, Joy shares how connecting, sharing, and being of service is therapeutic and God-inspired.

 THIS IS HOW I PAUSE: I CONNECT WITH PEOPLE

This Scripture reminds us of who God is: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)

What could Heathrow Airport and a little private school in a neighbouring country have in common? People, people and more people; coming and going! Our “landing pad” didn’t have a plane taking off every 30 seconds but was known for the pitter-patter of hundreds of school shoes every day. The “landing pad” was my office, or so it felt. I was Principal, and this was no place for autopilot; this was a hands-on position. The position was administrative, filled with meetings and more meetings involving all the stakeholders. And here was my world, children visiting from early morning with stories, sharing anxieties, with educators sharing their concerns, determined to find that special key to unlock learning challenges, cleaners who proudly served the school and then there was me. Feelings that this was too hard for me to handle threatened to surface daily in the early days of finding my feet in the new office. Here I was buried under mountains of paperwork, computer work, minutes of meetings, appraisals, pending memberships, Immigration and Labour officials, and they said this was an administrative position. And they say you close your door and say sorry I’m unavailable … who are they who know it all?

Obviously, they had never experienced the rich life of an ordinary day at a school. A day of constant knocking, face round the door and just a quick word. And so, in the busy days that started long before the start of the school day siren would be rung and would end hours after the school had been locked; I would sit wondering what happened to my day? I had so little to show for my “busy day”? I would sit there and look at all the work that greeted me at the start of the day, somehow still there waiting for me at night. And yet somehow, during this day, I added more to-dos. Tomorrow’s list would start with most of yesterday’s list plus all the new additions, and so the cycle continued.

 This was a runaway situation, and this “busyness” of seeing people from 7 am to 5 pm and then trying to wade through the work was becoming overwhelming. My job description wasn’t what they said it would be! It became apparent that the day was about “interruption” upon “interruption.” I would not have made it had it not been for God, who showed me that my day, call it interruptions if you want, was the biggest blessing in this sea of admin! How can I say that? Every “walk-in”, every “interruption” was a new chance given to me by God. Every “interruption” was meant for my good! How so? I got to stand up, breathe deeply, take a few steps, shake a hand, look someone in the eye, ask how they were and hear their response, every “can I just ask one thing” or “can I have one minute of your time,” “can I read to you,” “can I show my medal to you,” “can I show my pen licence to you”; whatever it was, it blessed me. God showed me the beauty of PAUSE when I was thinking I was at my busiest with deadlines looming.

I got the opportunity to be present in someone’s moment, hear what was said and sometimes what was not said. I got to stretch my body; I got to offer them something to drink and remember that I could also use a teatime drink. I could share my testimony, I could pray with people, I could laugh, share in their excitement and cry with them. Were these visits interruptions? NO NEVER! God showed up with young and old and showed me to pause, breathe and see his people.

Did the work get done? Yes, but the pause became my job description. How I marvel at our God who changed my thinking from ‘I’m overwhelmed, and I won’t manage this pace’ to doing exactly what I knew He wanted me to do — connect and love his people! His people were the Little Pre-schoolers, Primary school children, parents, teachers, support staff, visitors, and government officials. I got to:

• pause and playin the sandpit
• pause and listento a child read their first word
• pause and watcha child put their face in the water for the first time (swimming)
• pause and igniteclassroom goals for the year
• pause and walka child back to their classroom
• pause and sharein dreams
• pause and reflect on positive comments
• pause and evaluate the much-needed critique.

God was rescuing me from the four walls, and I got to pause and shake a hand, applaud, laugh, take a photo, and point out the kingfisher in the tree. I visited with parents from different religions and heard their fears and dreams for their children’s future.

 Pause meant I got to care and be cared for; I got to pray and be prayed for. Pause meant I got to love, connect, rebuild, refocus, and this autopilot was no longer on a collision course. Thus, Pause in Him and Rest in Him have taken on new meaning; I learned to love this full calendar of gathering people and their stories, handing out stars, encouraging people, sharing and experiencing God’s nearness and His faithfulness always at work.

 Dear reader, are you on autopilot? Do you want to STOP? REST? PAUSE? Don’t eject, but draw near to God as He draws nearer to you. Allow Him to pause you – his way. He knows you and what you need, so won’t you PAUSE with Him?

 My story does not end there. Oh no, God was not done with me and looking back, I had some more fine-tuning to learn when practising the PAUSE. My retired mother had been living with me, and suddenly in January 2019, as the school year leapt out of the starting blocks with full force, my mother made an astonishing announcement – she insisted that she wanted to spend 2 hours every weekday with me. NO, these daily 2 hours were not transferrable to weekends. This does not sound unreasonable, but for 2 hours a day where I could not glance at the laptop, read or answer any one of the hundreds of WhatsApp messages from all the school groups.

 Quite frankly, I was overwhelmed by her demand and thought it unreasonable! She knew the hours, my pressure, and that I was working seven days a week, yet she wanted more from me. My school day was 5 am to 10 pm, with many more work hours. For about a week, this war raged in our home. What she wanted, I was unable to give. Right? Or was I unwilling?

 The locals called my mother Mommy Darling, and when Mommy Darling wanted something, Mommy Darling usually got her way. I felt like a failure, and I was upset that she did not understand my position and remained steadfast in her demand. And then it happened! She woke me up one morning at 3 am with coffee, sat on my bed, and chatted. The coffee was good, and the chat was lovely, but I was sure that when she said she heard that I was awake, I assured her of the opposite.

 This happened for four days in a row. No laptop. No WhatsApp messages. Just the two of us, drinking coffee and chatting on my bed. I knew she had won! Clever Mommy Darling – she got in one hour a day with me before my day started. She had demanded 2 hours, right? So, my mother, a 5 o’clock dinner kind of a person, adjusted her dinner time to fit in with my 10 pm dinner time. This sacrifice from her was immense. I could no longer eat and read emails or WhatsApp messages, and I no longer wanted to. We were enjoying dinner together. She wanted this pause time with all her heart! We were both loving it, and before long, she was no longer keeping a record of the minutes, but we made the minutes count. I adjusted my schedule, came home earlier, had dinner earlier, visited, and THEN I would work—precious time given to me.

 This pause time strengthened our relationship. We shared Scripture, prayed, planned many tomorrows, and had big dreams. Looking back now, I wish it could have lasted forever! It lasted six months, and then Mommy Darling was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and passed away 40 days later; she finally paused this earth, breathed out this earth and breathed in her heavenly home. She knew we needed to pause. What great joy to know that I eventually laid self down; and paused with her in the final chapter of her earthly story. She was there when I breathed my first breath, and I was there when she breathed her last breath. How good is God?

 This PAUSE cycle has a button, and I was the operator. God gave me multiple breathing spaces in a busy day. Our God is good. Give your work to Him, hand your load to Him, see Him break through your way of doing and thinking, find your rest in Him, breathe and pause and enjoy His many gifts; mine happened to be people and interruptions.

 Jeremiah 32:27

This Scripture reminds us of who God is: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” What is too hard for you? So, let us always remember, but especially here at the year-end rush, to take time to pause and pray for one another.

*Joy Jacobs is a pseudonym.