It is sometimes hard I think to gather oneself together for a quiet moment of personal reflection.
We are connected on all sides: kids in arms, husband in face, phone in hand, and computer on table. There is much opportunity for distraction and drama. This is a common topic among self-help gurus, faith-based and otherwise. So, I won’t belabor the point that we need to disconnect sometimes.
Instead, I want really talk about What it means to move into personal reflection. For someone who carries around a memory closet full of bad experiences, sometimes personal reflection and devolve into a recasting of those old bad movies with new characters, sometimes it can mean simply reliving those experiences in the quiet of my own mind.
In my non-clinical, very personal experience, without some guidance and a strong arm, those types of reflections are not always beneficial to the delecate balance that is our well-being. You should not feel beat down and depressed when you leave a Selah Moment, girls. Instead, calm, strength, center, those should be the words that you feel when you reflection on ones CURRENT STATE.
Personal reflection is not a trip down memory lane, per se. It is about taking stock of you, right now. When we read the Psalms and we are directed to Selah–please understand, just as much as the writer is asking you to reflect on what is being expressed, the writer has felt overwhelmed by his own expression and needs to “Selah.”
My Selah this morning was on my health this morning. While there is quiet a bit “not good” about it. As I completed my morning yoga (yes, I am one of those *smile), I sat on the floor in my cluttered music/toy/tv room (because I do not live in ZEN paradise); and I took stock of my being. Today, I am. Just start there. Start with the acknowledgement that being is significant. My favorite holiday movie is Its a Wonderful Life. Imagine a life where there is no you. I can honestly say at various points in my life I felt: a)noone would notice.(blaspheme) b)Life would be positively impacted(depression) c)I dont care. (ego) If this describes your feelings, go back and simply remain in the place where you acknowledge that your existence is significant. God created you. Today, I am in a constant wonder at my being…just as the spring flowers that bloom every spring to add color, texture and beauty to that space on earth, I consider my own blooming as something temporary but intentional. So, in considering my being, I quietly contemplate my gratefulness and my purpose (even when I am unclear as to the EXACT purpose).
What these two steps in my Selah moment do each morning, they allow me to go through my life today as an active participate in the revelation of my life. My life is so connected, intentionally, because my own life helps to illuminate the life in others. It is through the interconnectedness of lives, the LIFE is revealed. The blooming of a flower under a tree hidden from eyes pleases God with its beauty. The blooming of the flower, picked by the child, and presented to the grandmother: now that is God’s expression of beauty revealed. The child and the grandmother now have a life moment to share with others, who will receive the expression of Life through their interconnectivity.
My Flower for You
Psalm 131
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1[a]LORD, MY heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me.
2Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting].
3O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.
Selah, sisters. Reflect simply and uncomplicatedly at your own being–its significant.
