Selah
There’s no consensus about what the word Selah meant.
It only shows up in the Psalms, and usually the ones written to the choir director so some folks think it was an instruction to the musicians to play especially loud.
Other people think it meant “pause here”, or “lift up [one’s hands / lift up praise]” or “temple priests do something secret now”, and there are many other ideas.
But one thing everyone agrees with is that the word is some kind of interruption.
An otherwise smooth oration includes this textured bit, this rhythmic mark that grabs the attention and that we have kept in the text despite no longer knowing exactly why.
Life gets interrupted all the time. There are Selahs everywhere.
Try thinking about today’s interruptions not as departures from the flow, but a necessary part of its rhythm.
How might accepting these interruptions change your interactions others today?
-- Kate Davoli
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