Pause Button
>> Friday, July 23, 2010
Summer is slipping away. Fast. Too fast. Yet, at the same time, it's slow. I'm a woman without a plan. No direction. No reason to get up in the morning. I need routine. I yearn for the summer as I go through the school year, yet when summer finally gets here, I can't handle it.
I think that's why I really enjoy making lattes. There is a sequence of events to it. I guess I won't bore you with those steps but I will say that every night I have the pieces clean for the next day. There are certain steps I have to take to hold in my hands a delightful glass of nonfat, caramel, iced latte.
I grabbed hold of the 90 Day Bible Reading Plan and did really well up to the time I left for ten days of vacation. I read every day in Washington but not to the extent it took to keep up the plan. Now, it's hard to get going again.
The woman without direction is even more lost because of guilt she heaps on herself. I'm up to Psalms now. Chapter 46. I'm moving right along and learning so much.
Today I read, Selah. Stop. Pause. Dictionary.com says it might also mean - a louder strain.
Pause or louder? Psalm 46
"God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need Him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains...
Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at Me,
Your High God, above politics, above everything..."
We live in a very LOUD world. Even in our own homes it can be noisy and so hard to listen to the Voice we really NEED to be listening to. The seastorm belts out a loud strain in our ears (along with life's demands) and the earthquake unsettles us (along with life's decisions and unrest feelings) YET God is our safe place, our refuge and we can stand and face it all without fear because God is with us, ready to help - just at the right time, BUT we must ask.
Hence, SELAH. Without the louder strain, we might never get to the selah. Never have to fully depend on God which would mean we would never fully experience His love and security in the storm. First LOUD STRAIN then SELAH.
(And the light-bulb comes on when I reread what I've written. This is my SELAH summer. Why is the loud strain so much easier sometimes? Weird. My selah time is so not full of pressing demands but a time to rest and relax and recover. A time to get ready for a new school year. I have to learn to manage my selah moments. That will be an on-going process, for sure. But you know, it really readies me to go back to work! That is a good thing, a very good thing:)
