My Experience with "7" by Jen Hatmaker--Week 7 (Stress)

I was curious about how Jen Hatmaker would tackle this seventh topic: stress.  How would she seek to diminish stress in her life?  By erasing events and responsibilities from her calendar?  What would she take out of her life to become calm, cool, and collected? 

I was surprised at first to read that Jen did not take anything away from her life and her schedule to work against stress; rather, she added seven things to each day.  Yes, added!  Each day, Jen paused seven times to read from the Bible and pray.  She followed the ideas in the book "Seven Sacred Pauses" by Macrina Wiederkehr, who called these seven pauses "breathing spells for the soul."  Adding events to our schedule can cause stress, but adding prayer will bring peace.  That was the theory that Jen--and our Bible study--decided to try this week.

This week was so good for me.  SO GOOD.  I did not manage to take every "sacred pause" but the many that I was able to observe were exactly what my soul needed.  They were not long prayers; they were not always profound; but they were constantly nudging my spirit towards a place of rest and dependence on God.  Like my friend in Bible study said, this exercise reminded her of her old baby stroller, where one of the axles is bent and so over time the wheels would always drift in one direction.  My life tends to drift in the direction of worry and stress, and I need time with God to constantly realign my spirit back to the path of peace.

Dawn touches Rehoboth Peak: time for the Awakening Hour prayer!

Here is a brief overview of the seven daily pauses, with selected quotes by Jen:

1. The Awakening Hour (Dawn)--"At dawn it's time to begin our day in glory, remembering God's goodness.  Even after the darkest night, the sun will rise...It's the moment to pray for resurrection: What needs to rise in us today?  Do we need to awaken to joy?  Forgiveness?...We enter a new day where our lives can become a living praise."  I often took this pause walking home from the gym, watching the first rays of sun light up the mountains.  There is no better way to start the day!
2. The Blessing Hour (Mid-morning)--"The mid-morning pause has two emphases: The first is mindfulness of the Spirit's abiding presence...the perfect time to invite the Spirit to stir our souls.  This pause can redirect our morning trajectory from "efficient" to "inspired"...Second, the Blessing Hour is about the sacredness of our hands and work.  Whatever our work looks like, we ask the Spirit to bless us with creativity, composure, inspiration, love."  I usually took this pause sitting on our front step watching toddlers play in the yard.  It reminded me, on the most monotonous of days, that the work I am doing is important and I should do it with love and gratitude!
3. The Hour of Illumination (Noon)--"At midday, the brightest moment of the day, we honor the hour when Jesus embraced the cross.  Like Him we recommit to giving our lives away...we ask Jesus to send light into our hearts so intensely that they break wide open...We ask God's love to illuminate the parts of our souls darkened with bitterness of anger or forgiveness or apathy."  This pause could be tricky, as it comes right at lunchtime when I have both toddlers and myself to somehow feed without leaving a total mess on the floor, table, kitchen, etc.  But it was good to take a minute and acknowledge any dark attitudes that were creeping into the day and flood them with light.
4. The Wisdom Hour (Mid-Afternoon)--"The Wisdom Hour embraces the themes of surrender, forgiveness and wisdom, and the impermanence of this life--including aging, maturing, and death...With evening approaching, we pray for perspective on this short, fleeting day, this short, fleeting life, and accordingly, we hold out forgiveness, release our grudges, and offer our gifts to the world."  With children napping, I usually had a quiet house to take this pause, and it was an important one for me.  Recently, I have felt like I am transitioning from young-adulthood to middle age and this can be a scary prospect.  I see signs of aging in my face and body, not to mention my spirit.  During this pause, I turned over these fearful emotions to God, asking Him to bring me purpose and contentment in this next stage of my life.
5. The Twilight Hour (Early Evening)--"The main themes [of this prayer] are gratitude and serenity as the evening lamps are lit.  We invite God's peace as we leave work and transition into dinner, family, home, rest.  Training our minds toward tranquility, we ask: What is the greatest blessing of this day?  What one accomplishment can I smile over? What is undone that I can gently lay down until tomorrow?"  These questions were so poignant for me as a stay-at-home mom.  Often the day passes by and I feel like nothing of import has happened, and nothing has been accomplished.  But when I answered these three simple questions, my heart was filled with gratitude.  Great blessings can be as simple (and profound) as a good conversation with a friend.  Baking a pie or cleaning the bathroom can count as excellent accomplishments.  And that load of laundry in the dryer?  It can wait until tomorrow to be folded!
6. The Great Silence (Bedtime)--"This prayer concludes the day; a beautiful time to pray with children as we tuck them in...it begins with a gentle evaluation of the day.  The focus is on awareness, and we include not just weaknesses by the strengths and accomplishments of the day.  The second theme is darkness--protection from some forms and acceptance of other forms.  We ask the Spirit to guard against our enemy, protecting our zeal and innocence in Christ...on the other hand, we welcome the soft darkness [of sleep] that is exquisitely beautiful and healing."  I usually prayed this prayer with Benji and Jonathan as we put Benji down to sleep.  It is always a special time of the day for us as a family.
7. The Night Watch (Midnight)--"This is a deep, even dark prayer of waiting and interceding, keeping vigil with Christ who never sleeps and guards us in our darkest hours.  The Night Watch advocates for others in a dark night of the soul: the suffering, abandoned, oppressed, lonely."  Confession: I never did this prayer in the middle of the night.  I decided an alarm going off at midnight would not be music to Jonathan's ears.  So I did the Night Watch right before I went to sleep, reading a Psalm of lament and praying for those who are suffering in the world.  My heart was drawn into the news stories I had read that day, about refugees and victims of terrorism and cancer patients.  It was a relief to put TIME magazine aside and pray for the desperate people in those photographs who I will never meet, but long to help: perhaps I cannot help them directly, but I can join Jesus in interceding for them and know that God is with them.

Seven days, seven pauses (yes, with a few missed here and there...)  Looking back at this week, I realize it was truly a week filled with peace.  The weeks before and after had times of intense stress as I worried about youth group, and moving next year, and many other things.  But this week was like an island of peace in those stormy seas.  Seven pauses might be an unrealistic goal for the long run, but I hope to keep at least some of these pauses in my daily routine.  I need them.  I realized that for me, giving my worries over to God works best not in one, long daily devotional time, but in these little conversations throughout the day; it is like talking to a good friend, sharing life with them one piece at a time.

Overall, Jen's book was great...I would even say life-changing.  I am so glad we did not just read the book, but followed along with her seven "fasts".  By giving up the excess in these seven areas, we gained important perspective and wisdom.