Some of you will remember the topic of “Selah” coming up in the comments a few weeks ago. And you’ll remember there were a number of you who asked if we could do a type of facilitated Selah around here. You asked in response to these words:
And these days, I’m blind to reasons why I’m not as introspective now as I used to be. Why I’m not as self-aware. Why I can’t tell you what I think or feel about certain things.
Maybe I should just sit more. Away from the laptop or cell phone or to-do list. Away from productivity and information overload.
Sit.
And listen to my own soul tell me its secrets – tell me stories that I haven’t heard in a while – or stories that I haven’t heard told before. Maybe then I will know myself again. Maybe.
I haven’t forgotten.
In fact, I probably think about that every week – trying to find a way to help this bloggy community (which I dearly love) quiet down from the chatter for a moment. I even asked my Biblical scholar husband what this word means: ”nobody knows for sure what this word means, but it most likely indicates some sort of pause or key change in the singing.”
So… Here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m going to pause for a breath – a long inhale. I’m going to “change keys” on this blog and in my life, and I’m gonna sit. And listen. And try to dig down deeper into my own soul. And I’m going to think about ways we can “selah” together.
And, we’ll start our “Selah” on Monday August 23rd.
See you then.
“And listen to my own soul tell me its secrets – tell me stories that I haven’t heard in a while – or stories that I haven’t heard told before.” I don’t think I have ever stopped long enough to hear the secrets or stories my soul would like to tell. What a powerful statement. I’ll be chewing on this one today for sure.
I’m with you, Mandy.
I can’t wait!
*HUGS*
Drew is right, but there are 2 main possible interpretations for the word selah:
1) some sort of musical instruction, like an instrumental interlude. All of the psalms were set to music so it’s possible that its a musical jam break.
2) the root word MIGHT be related to another hebrew word CALAH which means “to hang, to weigh for measure” – giving this the shade of meaning along the lines of a pause for weighing. As in, weighing the words that have just been sung.
I personally, think both are applicable.
There’s another view that says that it’s not a break at all, but more like an “amen” – it could be a phrase (though the meaning isn’t known) that has a function similar to the word amen, but a connecting phrase, not an ending phrase.
Good stuff!
Once upon a time, there was a small town on The Northeast of America. The peoples of this town were really very quite busy: parents had jobs, kids had homework, teachers had lesson plans, clerks had customers, businesses had sales, so on, so forth. But, it came to pass, that these people became exhausted, grumpy, and they had lost their focus of the purpose for all the things for which they had worked so hard. Parents lost sight of the love that had led to provide for their chidren, kids had lost sight of the significance of learning, teachers had lost sight of the power of knowledge, clerks had lost sight of hospitality true and genuine, and business lost sight of service.
And so it came to pass, that the townsfolk became quite grumpy, impatient, joyless, and rather selfish as well.
So the mayor and the town council voted on a measure about nothing, a resolution which passed unanimously and was happily embraced by the peoples of the town.
The local ordinance was, literally, about nothing. For the town had chosen a specific date upon which no high school games would be played, no businesses would be open, no classes, no homework, no dentists, no lawn mowing — a legal decree which proclaimed that everybody in the town would do…
…Nothing.
But, they could SIT.
And upon this date, they played no games, watched no television, used no computers, and neither boguth nor sold a single thing.
But, they could sit.
And, they did sit. They did.
With lives lived between the ticks of a second, the entire town just relaxed.
A kind of Selah, I should.
A pause and a change.
They were much better off afterwards, and faced the rigors of their schedules with renewed strength — a greater focus.
This is a true story.
There is more value in nothing than there is in gaining the world.
“For what shall it profit a man…”
The hardest person to get to know is usually yourself. That requires introspection, which I think is also essential to good mental health.
Jesus (40 days in the desert) , Muhammad (three years living in a cave), Gautama Buddha (49 days of meditation), all walked away from their lives to go, alone, on spiritual journeys before they began spreading their faith.
I am looking forward to August 23rd.
it is so hard to selah in the middle of a big city… I was much better at it in rural GA
Like this. Need this. Doing this. Well, not right now as I type but you know…
My electricity was off today for non-payment. Pretty sure they want me to respond to those red notices. I’m certain there’s another way to find quiet in my life but everytime this happens, which is more often than not, I sigh the biggest sigh of relief.
It’s my forced quiet. My forced still. I crave it more than power.
Don’t feel bad, Cole. My power is, too. Difference is I’ve just got a crappy electric company.
It isn’t even raining…
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