The doorbell does its thing just as I’m sitting down for lunch.

My daughter proclaims she “needs” a snack just as I’m starting work.

Okay, let’s get real here, nature calls with urgency just as I’m about to write that profound life-changing sentence.

We’re all familiar with pauses and interruptions in our daily routines. We know what it means to stop smack dab in the middle of a task to do the urgent thing instead of the important thing.

But recently I found myself reflecting on another type of “pausing”—a good and necessary kind.

As you read the creation narrative in Genesis 1, you’ll see these words sprinkled throughout the chapter: “And God saw that it was good.” In the very first chapter of the Bible, that phrase rings out six times like a beautiful refrain.

I’ve read that chapter loads of times—you know how it goes: Genesis 1 is the default starting point all 83 times you’ve set out to “read the entire Bible from start to finish.”

But as I read this super familiar passage a few days ago, I was struck by this particular thought:

God stopped to appreciate what He saw. He didn’t wait for the entire work of creation to be done before He declared that something was awesome.

While He rested on the seventh day, God hit the pause button every now and then and simply smiled with joy at what He had made.

I can just imagine those moments.

He paused when He spoke into being the powerful ocean with fierce waves that left delicate, lace-like foam on the shore—and saw that it was good.

He paused when He strung the twinkling fairy lights of the night sky together—and saw that it was good.

He paused when He sketched the ostrich with its awkwardly long neck and gave the leopard its Prada-bag spots—and He saw that it was good.

He made all things bright and beautiful, creatures great and small. And He didn’t wait till the pinnacle of creation (er, not to brag, but that would be us) to notice that it was all just really good. Instead, He paused to marvel at His creation every now and then.

That refrain—”And God saw that it was good”—is also a reminder to us. It is an invitation to pause for a moment to praise Him for every gift He gives us.

I often give in to this erroneous idea that I need to have the big things in hand before I praise Him. But when I entertain that notion, I cut myself off from experiencing the joy of gratitude because there are so many blessings that I overlook.

Even if those “breakthrough” prayers haven’t been answered yet, a gazillion blessings lie sprinkled along our every day—if only we would stop for a moment to acknowledge them.

That refrain—”And God saw that it was good”—is also a reminder to us. It is an invitation to pause for a moment to praise Him for every gift He gives us.

I recently read a quote that said something like this: “It’s important to know that you’re living inside one of your answered prayers, while you wait for the next one. There’s no wrong time for gratitude”

Could I challenge you to stop, to see, and to speak your gratitude to God?

To help me stay on track with thanksgiving, I stepped out of my do-not-disturb bubble and created a WhatsApp group with a few friends so we could share little blessings throughout the day. It felt awkward starting a group with a slightly corny name (“Pause To Praise”) with the sole intent of recording God’s hand of blessing in our lives. But when we acknowledge God’s good gifts in our every day, it gently but surely shifts our perspective, and strengthens our faith. Gratitude to God is a game-changer.

Just like the doorbell rings or the phone beeps during our routines, may we let praise punctuate our day—maybe even disrupt it or dislodge it from its normal rhythms so we can simply say, “Thank You, Jesus.”

Let’s not wait for the “big” blessings and miss out on the little ones that He sprinkles like confetti in our lives.

Have you paused to praise Him today?

 

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