1. The One Minute Pause

Friends, welcome. So glad you could join me here in this six-part series called Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad. My premise is very simple. The world has gone off the rails, and it's trying to take our hearts and souls with it. Just think of the pace of life right now—everyone I know is so busy. We're running from this to that, to the other thing.

I texted my friends the other day with an important announcement—at least, I thought it was important to me. In fact, it was the announcement that I had finished this book. And I get back little thumbs-up emojis and the little exclamation points. And I think to myself, That's it? That's all you got? You can't answer a text with a text? I mean, how fast are we moving that typing a few sentences to your friend on a phone feels cumbersome or sort of in the way?

Remember when email came along? It was like, you know, science fiction. I mean, we were able to get so much done in a day, get out so much information, answer so many things. And now, I mean, email practically feels like it's from the Stone Age. We've got texting, social media, and Instagram. We're trying to live at the pace of the swipe and the like.

And here's the big lie: the big lie was that technology was going to give us all this margin in our lives. It was going to free us up and give us the breathing room to do the things we love, right? To enjoy making and eating dinner, lingering over it with friends and family, reading a book, learning to paint or play an instrument, and planning a garden. But all that's gone in this mad pace of life.

And then there is this tsunami of information coming at us. We're spending four hours a day on our mobile devices, three hours using apps of various kinds, and ten hours a day consuming media of some sort. That's more information in one week than would crash a laptop, right? And it's not just information—it's scandal and chaos and politics and gossip and the drama of the world. This is hard on the soul. There's very little room left to be human anymore.

My musician friends tell me that they're not playing much music these days, and my gardening friends didn’t have a chance to plant this year what they wanted to. We’re all just living right at the edge of our margin.

How would you rate your soul these days? Are you happy most of the time? Are you rested and refreshed? Do you look forward to your future? Are you looking forward to next week? Are you lighthearted? When was the last time you felt carefree? I know, I know—it’s not fair to ask. Most days, we get home in a state of exhaustion, numb on our good days, fried more often than we’d like to admit. Like Bilbo Baggins said, "We feel thin and stretched like butter scraped over too much bread."

Now, here's the good news: that is not the life that God made you for, and it’s not the life He has for you. Jesus can show us the way out. Let’s go back to that verse we showed at the beginning: Are you tired? Worn out, burned out from religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you'll recover your life. Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

I would love to learn to live freely and lightly, wouldn’t you? It would be amazing. But look, you’ve got to be honest about this. That stuff sounds so pie-in-the-sky unless it is absolutely doable in our real life. Like, we can’t all quit our jobs and become monks or, you know, move to an island in the Pacific as lovely as that sounds, okay?

What I want to bring to you in this series are some very simple practices that I think will help you learn to live freely and lightly. Jesus talks about a life where His yoke is easy, and His burden is light, but I don’t think most of us have discovered it. So here’s what Jesus began to introduce to me, which led to the writing of this book and this series. He began to show me the way out—a number of just simple, daily practices that would help me breathe again, get my life back and restore my soul.

And it began with something as simple as the one-minute pause. What I realized was that I was just going through my day from email to email, phone call to phone call, meeting to text, to email to call to meeting. And even in my in-between time, my downtime, driving from one place to another or waiting for somebody to get back to me, I’d be back on my phone trying to get more work done. I realized I never stopped. I never paused once in the day.

So Jesus encouraged me to do this: to take 60 seconds, just 60 seconds, to pause in my day and just release it, just breathe. Not pray, not intervene for the next thing that was happening, not make my grocery list in my mind—none of it. As David says in the Psalms, "I have stilled and quieted my soul." Now, that's something that takes practice. So, all we're going to start with is a one-minute pause where we simply allow our souls to breathe. Just stop for 60 seconds. The one-minute pause has become an utter rescue.

We're going to try it right now. We’re just going to sit, and as we go through the series, we're going to get good at it, all right? So, 60 seconds right now, do not do anything, okay? Don’t process that email you shouldn’t have sent this afternoon, and don’t think about the meeting that’s coming tomorrow. Just 60 seconds, be quiet, and let your soul catch up to you. Just let your soul breathe.

I know. It's hard, right? All the distractions come in, and it’s almost irritating for someone to ask you to take 60 seconds to just pause, because we're suddenly confronted by how much we are being shaped by the chaos.

You see, here’s the big lie: the big lie was that technology was going to create room in our lives for all those things we enjoy, and it's done exactly the opposite. It didn’t give us any more margin; it just increased our workload. And now, it's trying to keep up with the pace of a world that’s gone completely mad.

So, in addition to the one-minute pause, Jesus began to show me that I needed to learn to release things to Him, to let it all go. He began to teach me the practice of benevolent detachment. Benevolent, because it’s not angry, it’s not mad, it’s not cynical and checked out. It’s in love and kindness. Detachment because I can’t carry the world. I can’t save the world. All right? It comes out of 1 Peter 5: Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares for you. Or, as another version has it, Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you.

I mean, I just see it—I just see myself dumping everything onto the big shoulders of God because I can’t carry it. Friends, this has become an absolute lifesaver for me. It began several years ago when I would come to Jesus in a time of prayer, and I’d be praying about my kids or my taxes or some upcoming meeting or a project like this. And Jesus would respond with, Give everyone and everything to me. And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I know. But what I need you to do… and He would say again, Just give everyone and everything to me.

Oh my goodness, has this become a grace—learning to let things go to God. This is what I use the one-minute pause for. Again, it’s not for making lists or answering emails in your head; it’s for releasing everything to God so that you can breathe and find Him again.

The scriptures invite us into a life that is light-hearted. "My yoke is easy," Jesus said, "my burden is light." And so we learn to release things to Christ through benevolent detachment. I know, I know. You’ve got all kinds of pushback right now. "Well, how can we do that? You don’t know my life. What about loving? What about carrying one another's burdens?" I know, I know.

Here’s how we can practice benevolent detachment: we realize that we are not the Savior of the world. We can’t save the world. We can’t even carry it—not even our own lives. Jesus said, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?" Jesus is actually serious about us turning things over to Him on a regular basis, learning the practice of release: I give everything and everyone to you, Jesus.

So, let's do a little exercise right now. If you've got something to write with, great. If not, bring it next time, and you can just do this one in your head. What are the things you’re carrying right now that you would love to get off your heart and soul, that you would love to just get off your back? Just a couple of things that you would love to release to Jesus. We’re just going to take a moment and let you realize what you need to turn over through benevolent detachment.

Then, take those very specific things and say, "Jesus, I give my aging parents to you. Jesus, I release my kids' school situation to you. Jesus, I release work to you and my frustration and that email I shouldn't have sent.” As we learn benevolent detachment, we release these things to God.

And here’s the beauty of the one-minute pause. Just 60 seconds to let your soul dump that and breathe. I do it a couple of times a day, sometimes when I pull into the driveway in the evening. I’ll turn off the car, lay my head on the steering wheel, and release the day. It lets me be more present to the people I’m about to be with. I know benevolent detachment will take practice. Stacy and I find bedtime a great time to use it, too. At the end of the day, if you want a good night’s sleep, turn it all over to God.

So, we’ll give you more instruction in your study guide on that, and chapter one in the book unpacks it more. If you try this a couple of times a day, I think you’ll find it helpful. See you next time.