The Selah Series
Below are 3 short excerpts from The Selah Series. Purposefully short and a quick read, use them to help renew your mindset on the importance and power of pause. Then, take an opportunity to actually pause and engage in the prompt at the bottom of the page. The rest of the series can also be found here on Instagram.
Selah—Your Invitation to Rest
Selah. It's a word that invites us to rest, to pause. To turn down rather than turn up. To trade our unhealthy attachment to efficiency and productivity for a more redemptive view of time.
Once freed from the tyranny of the living by the clock, selah becomes a kind of front porch for the soul. A place that invites us to sit awhile, breathe deeply, and simply be.
On the front porch we can take in the view—a view that helps us see more clearly and reconnect. But to what and whom? What do we see more clearly? To whom do we reconnect?
The Father.
Ourselves.
Others.
What truly matters.
This is selah.
In Green Pastures, Literally
He lets me rest in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. Psalm 23:2. This is my current view: a literal green pasture. Sunshine? Check. Birdsong? Check. Random unidentified critter foraging in the under brush and making me a tad nervous? Check and check.
This month, I'm so excited to be thinking about all things selah, or to put it another way: pausing to find stillness and all the life it brings.
But more important than talking about it, is practicing it. Today's walk led me to an unexpected trail and I'm again reminded that stillness is about more than being quiet (it's loud out here with the sounds of nature!), it's about creating space for life. To notice it all around, yes, but better still, to rest in it.
Friends, wherever you are right now, what would it look like for you to simply pause and breathe deeply for a minute or two? This is selah. I invite you to it and life does too.
Why Selah?
Why selah? What's the value of pausing? Other than being God's preferred method to treat a fried soul, it's also a form of preventative soul care.
Selah. Solitude. Space. Silence...these are just a few ways to find, enter into, and cultivate stillness.
But why stillness? Well, why oxygen? Why water?
Simply because out souls need stillness to not only survive, but flourish.
Practical Prompt: Spring is quickly fading and summer is just around the corner. Transition, and especially the transition between seasons, offers us a natural opportunity to pause, to reflect, to selah. As you begin to think about the summer ahead, why not take a day or half-day to first slow down. This can look like taking a walk, baking something, or doing whatever calms you and helps you become more present. Next, once you’ve cleared up some mental space, reflect on your past spring season. Ask yourself “What was life giving for me this spring?” Name 2-3 things and then pick just one of them to intentionally choose to walk in as you head into the summer.
Kemi