![\"Shawnelle](\"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/blog_marriagepeace_350.jpg\")
“Listen,” I say.<\/p>\nThe children are in bed and Lonny and I are in the schoolroom. He’s at one end of the boys’ school table, working on his computer. I’m on the other end, working on mine. I look up and see him there, work-face pulling his brows. The clickity-clack of his keyboard is the only sound.<\/p>\n
“Hey,” I say. “Can you stop? For just a sec?”<\/p>\n
Lonny looks up.<\/p>\n
And it’s quiet.<\/p>\n
Perfectly, beautifully, unusually quiet.<\/p>\n
“Listen,” I say.<\/p>\n
He listens. Then a smile tugs the corners of his lips. A wave of gentle washes over his face. His expression is soft. Easy.<\/p>\n
And there is no sound. It’s strange, at first, as the week has been wild. Divide-and-conquer has been the name of our game.<\/p>\n
Swim club practice. Soccer games. Scouts. Lonny’s spent the evenings shuttling sons one direction, and I’ve shuttled other sons in the opposite.<\/p>\n
But here we are.<\/p>\n
And all is still.<\/p>\n
“Shall we sit?” I ask.<\/p>\n
A moment later we’re close on the sofa, a well-loved 1920’s find that sags in just the right places. His arm goes around my shoulders, as it has for over two decades, and my head finds a resting place beneath his chin.<\/p>\n
We’ve found a quiet moment.<\/p>\n
My friend calls these treasured times a pause.<\/em> A couple of months ago, Lonny and I planned an anniversary vacation to the Caribbean. My friend and I chatted about my get-away adventure as she and I took a morning run.<\/p>\n “What are you looking forward to the most when you think about your trip?” she asked.<\/p>\n “Together time. Being still with my best friend,” I said.<\/p>\n “Oh, “she said. “You’re looking forward to a pause.”<\/p>\n As I sit here and remember that day, I think my friend nailed it. The pause. Life is busy. Full and frantic. Lonny and I are constantly working to achieve the order we want in our home. The Lord first. Marriage second. Children third.<\/p>\n But busyness and activity and wants and needs press hard and fast and often time for our marriage seems to be shuffled to the back.<\/p>\n Or lost.<\/p>\n Lord, help us to take time for one another. To live and learn and grow together. Let us find joy in one another’s company. In intentional times, like a date or a trip. But especially in the every day–in the grace-gift moments, like this time right here.<\/em><\/p>\n Lonny and I begin to talk and the quiet fills with expressions of our days. His fingers lace over mine and this is comfortable and familiar.<\/p>\n It’s necessary, too.<\/p>\n Life is rich with many wonderful things. Raising children. The blessing of maintaining a home. Commitments to good and true things.<\/p>\n But taking the time to step back from the busy and connect at a heart-level with my husband is sustaining.<\/p>\n And the Lord meets us here. In this peaceful place.<\/p>\n Thank you, Lord, for the pause.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The children are in bed and Lonny and I are in the schoolroom. He’s at one end of the boys’ school table, working on his computer. I’m on the other end, working on mine. I look up and see him there, work-face pulling his brows. The clickity-clack of his keyboard is the only sound. “Hey,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":28684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[63,62,49],"ppma_author":[491],"class_list":["post-20027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marriage","tag-autumn","tag-blessings","tag-peace"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n