Reflecting in the Pause
Pauses in life can come unexpectedly or as part of a plan. Enforced pauses, for example, may occur because of redundancy, illness, time off before or after a baby, retirement, or as we're experiencing now, lockdown due to a pandemic.
Planned pauses are more intentional or regular. For example, a retreat, a holiday, the period before New Year or a sabbatical.
The most significant pauses in our married life were when we took a sabbatical and went travelling, and when we managed to lose five jobs between us in the space of three months. The first was planned and the second (as you can probably guess) wasn't at all. Now during, lockdown we're experiencing a pause once again.
Those are just a few suggestions. Together, you'll be able to think of others that might be more pertinent to you and your situation. If you have other questions that you find really helpful in your reflections as a couple, please let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear them.
The most significant pauses in our married life were when we took a sabbatical and went travelling, and when we managed to lose five jobs between us in the space of three months. The first was planned and the second (as you can probably guess) wasn't at all. Now during, lockdown we're experiencing a pause once again.
We've found that pauses are a great time to stop and reflect. In the busyness of everyday life it can be hard to do this but a pause allows us to breathe, slow down, pray and to ask ourselves the important questions in life.
It provides an opportunity to look back and see what has been working well and what hasn't. It also gives us space to look forward to dream and focus together on what we would like to be different. If you're experiencing a pause during this time, or have a planned one coming up, here are a few questions that we have found useful, in case they are also a help for you:- What is working well in our lives at the moment? What would we like to do more of?
- What areas need improvement or growth? What do we need in order to help us work on those areas?
- What impact do we want to have as a married couple? How are we doing? What could we change or do differently?
- What do we want to create together? What do we need in order to do that?
- What are we doing to invest in our connection and our relationship together? How is that working? What else would we like to do?
- What are our priorities? How much time, effort, or finances are those priorities getting? What would we like to change?
- What is God saying to us at this time? How well are we walking out His purposes for us as a couple? What could we do to improve or change?
Those are just a few suggestions. Together, you'll be able to think of others that might be more pertinent to you and your situation. If you have other questions that you find really helpful in your reflections as a couple, please let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear them.