One autumn morning when I woke up, the first thing I did was peek through the blinds to see what the morning looked like. I was stunned by the colors of one of the most beautiful sunrises I had ever seen. I looked at the clock. It was 6:36am. Hurriedly, I got my clothes on, grabbed my camera and ran to the end of my street to an open field where I could take photos of the beautiful sunrise. By the time I had gotten to the open field the fiery red and orange had already begun to fade to a pale orange and yellow. I took a few photos… I looked at my watch… it was 6:41.
Five Minutes! That’s all it took for the beauty of that moment to fade away. I had moved as quickly as possible, and nearly missed it completely. A beautiful moment had come and gone in just FIVE MINUTES and I took it in as best I could.
Life is full of “beautiful moments.” But, our lives move at such a rapid pace that we oftentimes miss out on these beautiful moments. Sometimes we sleep through them. Sometimes we see them and aren’t aware of how beautiful they are. Sometimes we pass right by them, but are distracted by other less important things, or even worse, we get distracted by things that are downright ugly (like the evening news, for instance).
There is a word used in the book of Psalms “SELAH” that theologians believe means “Pause and reflect for a moment.” So few of us know how to “pause and reflect” any more. We go from one thing to the next, seamlessly… not taking in the full beauty of the moment that just passed us by. I’m as guilty as the next guy.
“Lord, help us today to pause and reflect… to have a SELAH moment where we admire the beauty around us… where we don’t entertain the negative and the ugly… where we give our complete attention to the beauty around us.”
Psalm 32:7
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. “Selah”
