Sunday’s Blessing – 08/17/2025 – The Speed of Life

Sunday’s Blessing – 08/17/2025 – The Speed of Life

One of the curious things I remember from my time as a music major at Samford University was the meaning of Latin words used by composers to indicate the tempo of songs they wrote. Adagio is approximated as the BPM of the human heart. While the speed varies slightly from person to person, and even varies by circumstances, today it is generally thought to be around 72 BPM. However, music historians believe it was much slower several centuries ago; as low as 60 BPM. This means the performance of older works are played much faster than they were originally intended.

In like fashion, it is believed that relative pitch has also changed over time. Symphonic musicians tune to an A played by the first-chair violinist. Legend has it that in an attempt to keep a sharp, crisp tone, the actual tuning of A has increased. The first-chair violinist would push the tuning slightly sharp to improve the sound. Even in the past few decades, A has gone from a frequency of 440 Hz to 442 Hz in some cases. 

Classical composers played around with various tunings. A=415 Hz, a semitone lower than modern pitch, was common for French Baroque music. Other tunings ranged from around A=392 Hz (particularly in France) to A=422 Hz (a "classical pitch" used by Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven). Some organs even reached A=480 Hz. Those same compositions, especially for voice, are now performed at a higher pitch than originally composed; possibly a minor third higher.

The point of all this is the speed of life has increased. One of my favorite lines from Stephen Wright is, “I once put instant coffee in a microwave and almost travelled in time.” We are constantly looking for an edge to get more for less; primarily getting more accomplished in less time.

While productivity may have improved, it has taken its toll on the human body. Heart rates are up, blood pressure is up, stress and strain on muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves are up, creating bodies which are struggling to keep up. At some point, the body will eventually break.

This is why it is vital to find a place of rest. A few months ago I did a series of posts on Sabbath Rest. Go back and read some of them. We must find a way to slow the pace of life so we can breathe, relax, and actually enjoy living. What’s the point of increased productivity if we are broken or dead? There’s a reason we need to stop and smell the roses. This quote is often attributed to golfer Walter Hagen, who said, "Don't hurry, don't worry, and be sure to smell the flowers along the way." Regardless of the origin, the message is still true. Take note of the things around you so you can appreciate where you are, where you have been, and look forward to where you are going.

Now for today’s blessing:

May the Lord give you grace to slow down

So you can “be still and know that He is God”

So you will know you are not alone in the race you are trying to run

And come to understand there really is not a race at all

May you accept the mercies extended each day from the Lord

So you can receive forgiveness from the past

So you can have contentment in the present

And hope for the future

May you give yourself room to change, to slow down

So you can live the life God intends you to have

So you can fulfill the purpose God has placed in your heart

And find rest in being the child of the King

Sunday’s Blessing – 06/15/2025 – Father’s Day

Sunday’s Blessing – 06/15/2025 – Father’s Day

The past month or so I spent time writing about the sabbath/selah/rest of God. I’ve learned a lot as I spent time reading and meditating on what God thinks about the sabbath from both the Old and New Testament perspectives. I came to realize they are exactly the same. There are two different things here. There is The Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week, and considered to be a weekly festival which God gave His chosen people, the Jews, for them to remember all God had done for them.

There is also simply sabbath. This is a time when we “suspend” our activity and just commune with our Father. This is not relegated to a day of the week. It is not church attendance. It is not the fourth commandment. It is a time when we let everything else go for a while and spend that time talking and listening to God. The word meaning of sabbath is: intermission, to cease, to rest. In today’s vernacular it might be: “time out” or “chill”.

King David understood sabbath and built into his psalms a pause, called selah, which mean: “suspension” or “pause”. This nuance in musical terms could mean an actual suspended chord or progression of sound. Our minds hear the musical suspension and naturally begin anticipating the resolution; the resolve.

When I saw this, I immediately understood why sabbath means so much to God. In essence, sabbath is faith. When we suspend our efforts, our plans, our purposes, our pursuits, we experience sabbath rest. There’s no struggle or strain. We come to realize that God is the source of everything we need. This is faith: the essence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This suspension brings the anticipation of the resolution or resolve in our life.

The resolve leads us to act, not in faith, but in trust. We heard from the Father in the sabbath moment, then go from there trusting in what we heard from Him. This is how we live our life-song. We play and sing the words and melody given to us by the Holy Spirit. It builds up to a point of suspension where we have to pause and seek counsel from the Maker, then continue in the cadence, trusting God’s voice.

Now for today’s blessing:

May the Lord teach you to play your life-song 

To bring glory and honor to Christ and His Kingdom

So those in your world can be blessed

Including you, the minstrel and soloist of your life

May you encounter the Father on this Father’s Day

As you learn of Him through the renewed fellowship available through Christ

To hear His heart, to recognize His voice, to follow His dreams for you

As you continue to compose new movements in the song of your life

Sunday’s Blessing – 05/25/2025 – Week of Ascension

Sunday’s Blessing – 05/25/2025 – Week of Ascension

As we consider selah/sabbath/rest, one of the last acts Jesus did on earth was to ascend to Heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father. This would be His posture until He returns for His Bride, the Church. Spiritually, we are also seated with Him at God’s right hand. It is here that we also rule and reign with Christ, though we are still here on earth.

We remain here after our conversion to be ambassadors for the Kingdom of God on the earth. We are to be ministers of reconciliation, bringing mankind back to their rightful place of fellowship with the Creator.

Being seated on God’s right hand is the ultimate in rest. God rested after creation. Jesus rested in the tomb after completing His mission to fulfil righteousness by keeping The Law blamelessly. Now He is resting at the Father’s right hand, interceding for us continually.

The final act (that we are aware of in scripture) before His return is to send the Holy Spirit to fill people who are born again, recreating them to be sons and daughters of the Most High God. We will celebrate this day a little later which is called Pentecost.

Now for this week’s blessing:

May you know the reality of your position in Christ, which is to be seated with the Father

From which you can experience a life of joy and peace, living in the favor of God

Enjoying fellowship with the Creator as friend to friend

Until we actually get to see Him face to face

May you learn to rest in in this relationship, no longer struggling to qualify

But instead, learning to abide, since you are already qualified through Jesus

No longer working or straining, but instead enjoying the fellowship

Forever with Him, the Keeper of our heart

Sunday’s Blessing – 04/27/2025 – The Rest of God

Sunday’s Blessing – 04/27/2025 – The Rest of God

During this past Easter season I became familiar with a song by Andrew Peterson called, “God Rested.” In this song, the composer drew a parallel between God in the Creation, described in Genesis 1-2, and the Crucifixion of Christ. After creation, God said:

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Genesis 2:1-3 (ESV) 

When God finished His work of creation, He rested! His last creation was The Sabbath. God had set things in motion for eternity. Even though everything had not yet taken place, God had finished creation … and rested!

When Jesus was on the cross, He said:

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:28-30 (ESV)

“Knowing that all was now finished …” Jesus gave up His life. Even though everything had not yet become manifest, He placed everything in motion which would be completed after His death. Jesus went to the tomb … and rested! After He died, Jesus was taken down off the cross, His body prepared for burial, was placed in the tomb of a stranger, then was resurrected from the dead. Jesus then ascended to heaven where He sat down at the right hand of the Father. He then sent the Holy Spirit (as He had promised) to fill the Believers and to empower them to carry out the work of the ministry of reconciling all people back to full fellowship with the Father. Through salvation, mankind can now “rest” with Christ, seated with Him at the right hand of the Father. (Ephesians 1-2)

Now for today’s blessing:

May you come to experience the rest of God

As you become identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension

Now take your rest as you are seated with Him in heavenly places

Far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion in this world and the one to come

May you find in living from this place of rest abundant peace

A peace beyond anything you can imagine ever being possible

A peace which keeps our hearts and mind as we focus on our fellowship with the Father

Full of grace and mercy because of all Jesus finished in His life, death, and eternal rule with God