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Viewpoint from Rev Helen Garrard 24/05/2024
 Rev Helen Garrard
Lead Chaplain, Norfolk Community Health and Care
and
Associate Priest in the Rockland Benefice (Bramerton Group)
and
Bishop's Advisor for Healthcare Chaplaincy
The Pause
I am thinking about something which happened a few years ago. It was Christmas Eve, early in the evening; it had been a very busy day and I was dashing around running late as ever
 I was travelling to a crib service which I was due to be leading in a church in the middle of the countryside. Driving on a very dark lane, I came across a familiar place, a small bridge over a stream. The moon was full and high in the sky and a light frost was forming on the reeds which were bending low into the water; a gentle breeze rippled the deeper water and I was arrested by the beauty
Despite my lateness I paused and opened the car window. I felt the cold night air and surveyed the beauty - somehow the momentary clarity resonated with the overarching beauty of the Christmas night as if to illustrate the beauty of heaven reaching down to earth. My contemplation was interrupted by a car horn from behind me. The driver opened his window and called out - drive on - I’ve got a service to get to!
Sometimes when we are under the greatest pressure the strongest calling is to pause
 To pause means to stop, to draw breath, to notice the moment, and pay attention to our surroundings. Drawing breath means changing our physical state taking in refreshment and vital air, noticing our life and using our breath to steady ourselves. Noticing the moment means changing our attention from the thing we are doing to the world around us
When we pay attention to our surroundings we take things in in a new way- had I not stopped and looked I would not have noticed the frost on the reeds or the rippling of the water. I could so easily have driven straight past
What I noticed most of all was how pausing changed me; I arrived at the crib service deeply enriched by that state changing moment; my presence was enhanced, my connection with the narrative was enriched as if my soul was blessed
My first experience of the pause was in the dark, cold depths of winter. How much more, I wonder, can we respond to the call to pause in summer? Next time you feel overwhelmed or pressured for action try this: pause, draw breath, notice all that surrounds you, celebrate its beauty and let it infuse your soul
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