Pause Like God: Unlocking Your Path to Emotional Maturity

I realized something powerful about fixing character flaws by looking at how God created the world.

I recently completed my yearly personal inventory, and during my annual Fifth Step with my spiritual coach, I realized I struggle with immaturity. This manifests as a constant failure to pause throughout the day. My inventory revealed several situations that could have turned out much better if I had simply paused instead of reacting impulsively.

Basically, my childish lack of self-control pointed directly to this immaturity.

The solution? Make pausing a regular habit.

It seemed like a solid plan. Every morning, I would ask for help pacing throughout the day. Every evening, I could track how many times I paused, which would allow me to track my progress and manage this issue.

One morning, while doing my usual Bible reading, I was thinking about this whole immaturity thing and how to fix it by pausing. As I read the creation story in Genesis, something jumped out at me: God pauses. At every step of creation, He paused. He separated the land and water — pause. He said, “Let there be light” — pause. He created the animals — pause. He created Adam and Eve — pause. He paused constantly.

The pattern was undeniable. God pauses — a lot.

It hit me: “Wow, if God can pause, then surely I can too!”

That realization changed my whole approach. I went into the day determined to imitate God and make pausing a priority. Who better to pattern my behaviours after than the Big Guy himself.

With each pause, I had time to listen and sometimes to pray. But the pause was the crucial element. My personal inventory was helpful, and I was on the right track, but reading about God’s pauses in Genesis was the key that unlocked everything.

Pause like God.