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Viewpoint from Revd Canon Nick Garrard 19/02/2021
 Revd Canon Nick Garrard
The Rectory, Rectory Lane, Rockland St Mary, NR14 7EY
Nick is Rector of the Rockland Benefice in the Bramerton Group (Bramerton, Rockland St Mary with Hellington, Surlingham, Claxton, Carleton St Peter, and Kirby Bedon with Whitlingham) and Bishop’s Officer for Christian Spirituality through the Creative Arts
I’m about to begin a week’s holiday. Not the holiday in North Wales that Helen and I first planned last autumn (now postponed for the second time), but a staycation at home. We will no doubt tackle some of the jobs that we’ve been looking at since we moved in a year ago, but hopefully resting and resetting ourselves after a busy patch at work. We’re also hoping to do some art
 From time to time I enjoy linoprinting, and I have a little project in mind. It won’t be beautiful to behold. It will be a print of a giant pause button, the two vertical bars that appear on bottom of the video screen. We click them when we want to stop the film and restart in the same place later in the day. The pause button I’m designing won’t connect to any device. It will be there to pause me, whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed with work, or my own racing thoughts and worries take over. Hitting the button will remind me to stop, breathe, stand up, turn around, look at things differently, make a coffee, reflect and pray
In Psalm 46 God reminds us to ‘Be still, and know that I am God’. Sometimes we can be sitting still but our minds are busy and distracted. It’s only when our mind and body reach stillness together that we are truly centred and ready to receive. My intention is to release the pause button only when I’m ready to return to the situation, coming to it from a better place. That’s the plan, anyway
If I remember, I’ll let you know in my next Viewpoint if I get around to making my pause button this week, and whether it’s worked. I wonder what works best for you when life gets stressful? If all else fails, try hitting your ‘pause button’
also published in the Great Yarmouth Mercury
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