Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.
For Spiritual Thursday, some of us blogging-writer friends are reflecting on each other’s OLW. This week we are writing about “Selah,” Michelle’s word.
Of course I googled it. What else do we do these days when we don’t know a word? (Funny aside: I told a student today I was exasperated, and she googled it and read aloud, “intense anger.” I might have exaggerated.)
On the internet I found a praise group that I had never heard before. I liked the song and will post the YouTube video. I also learned that the word is used 70-something times in the Psalms. As an alto in the choir, I was pleased to see there was a musical reference to a pause. I imagine the // in the notation on a chant.
On the baby name site, Selah is a girl’s name which means “Stop and listen.”
One thing that makes you take stop, pause, and pay attention is a diagnosis of cancer. Our church community has been rocked by the diagnosis of one of our dearest friends, Amy. Amy and her husband Kelly have four children between the ages of 10 and 16. Their kids are often on the altar as acolytes.
Amy has taken on this unfair disease with courage, faith, and hope. She posted recently on her Caring Bridge site that she has a new perspective. “All of the things I spent so much time worrying about mean nothing anymore. When faced with your own mortality, the only thing that really matters are the people that you love and the experiences you share with them.” She sees so much good, in the people cooking meals for her family, in the daily life of our community (specifically Mardi Gras balls), and in the attitudes of her children.
When I crochet prayer shawls, I practice selah. I often chant the person’s name in my mind as I stitch. The selah is a gift to me as well as a gift for the person I make the shawl for. I finished Amy’s shawl last week and gave it to her on Sunday. Kelly is pictured with her holding the prayer blanket that my friend and co-stitcher, Brenda, made.
Amy and Kelly with prayer shawl and lap blanket.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14
Reflections on the Teche 