I had another post planned for today. One dealing with St. Thomas in the first century and whether he visited the University of Taxila in the Punjab. But I couldn’t write it. Watch for it later.
It was another week of tragedy in the world. I’m in the USA right now, and in an already intense election season filled with acrimony there are the divisions  of race and religion. Violence has erupted yesterday in an attempted coup in Turkey and again in the USA city of Baton Rouge.

Today is not a day to stop life, to stop trying to love our neighbors. But it is a day to hit the pause button, to grieve for a lost world. For many families suffering unspeakable losses. But we pause and grieve in hope. Hitting the pause button means we listen more deeply to God and to ourselves. We all grieve differently. We all heal differently. Pausing, or the Hebrew word Selah, means to take the time we need to rest and trust. To heal.

Sometimes it seems like we can’t take any more bad news. Ever feel that way? That is not the time to stop life. But it may be a time to pause. To go more slowly, to take time to grieve losses. To continue to love those around us.

Then we hit the play button again. And life, however difficult or easy, goes on. Pause tonight in hope. And go on.