Finding the Purpose in the Pause

What happens when your neatly planned life is turned upside down by unexpected events? Sometimes things happen we can’t plan for and our only choice is to respond in the best way possible.

We’ve been in an unexpected pause of our podcast recordings over the past two months. It started out when our team was disbanded unexpectedly. We had two weeks notice that we were losing our producer, the amazing experience and basically the technological brains of our show! Dean, our producer extraordinaire was taking a new position and leaving the communication agency where we’d been doing our recordings!

Now what?!!!!

In the midst of trying to figure this out, Andee, my co-host, lost her mom. That’s always a tough thing to deal with and it happened at a critical time in our schedule. (Is there ever a good time for someone to die?) We were less than two weeks from our Bold & Courageous Leader retreat. So we cancelled the retreat.

As we struggled through the process of regrouping, it became obvious that there is a purpose in the pause that we can’t anticipate. We learned embracing the pause is the best way to move through it. We can’t control the external events in our lives. We might as well roll with them, embrace them and be open to the potential opportunities that are in them.

As we move back into our podcast recording rhythm, we may be a little off schedule for a while. We’re still rebuilding the infrastructure we had before. Dean is back in the producer chair. We found a new way to work together. Yea! And Andee is with us, thank God. Her heart is hurting, as she lost her mom, but she is here and will continue to co-host with me.

We’ve reflected on the pause in our podcast and business; we’ve learned some things from the experience. We’d like to share them with you.

Causes for a Pause

There are many causes for a pause in life.

• Death – death of someone close to you impacts you in ways you can’t anticipate. And death isn’t always about a person’s physical death. It could be the death of a marriage, death of a job, death of a dream. Any of these will cause a pause.
• Family emergency – Just the word emergency indicates this isn’t planned. A family emergency can be health-related, a relationship challenge or a child who struggles.
• Team challenges – Working with others is the best way to accomplish your goals. None of us is proficient at everything. That’s why God created us for community. Working in community has its challenges, though. A conflict in the team can cause a pause; that pause will be shorter if the conflict is addressed, however. Then there is the potential that a team member may leave the team. Sometimes it’s time and they need to move on. What do you do when you lose a team member? You will have a pause as you reconfigure your team or find a replacement for that team member.

Costs in the Pause

A pause invariably carries costs. It can cost you momentum and reputation in the short term. Fortunately, both can be regained over time.

Momentum suffers when you hit a pause. Whether the cause is circumstances, as in a death or family emergency, or team related, invariably momentum will slow. That’s the nature of these events. Your mindset as you walk through the pause will impact how quickly you regain momentum. If you give yourself permission to slow in the short term, and if you’re authentic with your tribe, your team, your customers, they will give you the benefit of the doubt. They will support you in the pause.

Your reputation can also suffer if you’re not appropriately authentic with your tribe, your team, and your customers. If you hold back the reason you’re not at your best, others may interpret that in negative ways. You don’t have to give the whole story. Giving enough information to explain your inability to be at your best in this moment will go a long way to preserving your reputation.

The Purpose in the Pause

In the pause, it’s difficult to see the purpose, the good that God will bring out of it. But God will bring good out of the pause. God uses a pause for His purposes. What opportunities is He presenting in this pause? A pause can provide you with:

• New perspectives
• New insights
• New ways to connect to those you are to serve.

The Purpose in the Pause may be shaping you for a new season of Masterpiece Work………

• Progress on our masterpiece work comes in seasons.
• A Pause may shape our masterpiece work in new ways.
• God can use a pause to do some new transforming work.

How has God shown you a purpose in a pause? I’d love to hear from you.

Resources

Bold & Courageous Leader Podcast Episode 23: Finding the Purpose in the Pause