Skip to main content

Space . . .

. . . the final frontier. And I don't mean Star Trek. I mean brain-space, heart-space, space for thought. Space for God.

Life is full. Each day bombards us with a cacophony of sights and sounds. It takes work on our part to sort through this barrage and pull out the information we need, the information we want, the images, the thoughts that will belong to us and to our memories.

In addition to this onslaught of stimulation, most of us carry around a to-do list so long that it wouldn't fit on a triple roll of Charmin written in a size six font. We're a civilization that exists on over-load.

Captain Kirk had to risk taking the Enterprise out of its dock in order to explore that final frontier because space doesn't just happen. It doesn't come to us nor does it scream at us for attention. It doesn't jump up and down flailing its arms. Some of us need more of it than others.

Growing up, our next door neighbor used to sit out in his screened-in porch for hours every day. No book. No music. Just him. I took it for granted then. That's just what Rich did. Now I envy that time he took every day. I want to follow his example. I want to purposely make space - internal space. I want to make time for the dust that comes from each day's information attack to settle so I can see clearly once again. I want to sit still and allow the clamor of life to quiet so that I can hear God's voice instead of my own or the myriad of others that come at me each day. I want to intentionally sift through my life and let fall those things that aren't mine to hold onto and to make space to hold onto those things that are.

I want to find the unexplored space within my soul that is meant for God alone, and I want to go there every day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Resting...Resting?

A few weeks ago, my husband and I had dinner with our daughter-in-law and two of our grand children. My daughter-in-law lost her job a couple of months ago. I wanted an update on current job prospects or plans, so I asked, "What are you doing these days?" Her answer was simple and yet incredibly profound.              Resting. (Is that even a word in the American lexicon?) I'm proud of her, and of them, for making the decision that it's time for her to rest. She's been in hyper-drive for all the years I've known her (over 16).  That word has haunted me since she spoke it. Resting. What would happen if I...if you...gave it a try?  In Psalm 23: 6a, David says Surely goodness and mercy will follow me. In K.J. Ramsey's The Lord is My   Courage (page 240), she tells us that our English word, "follow," doesn't convey the power behind the original Hebrew word that David used (radaph). She tells us that radaph means "to pursue, chase, and pers
1 comment
Read more

It's Time to Take off the Sunglasses

 Americans have a favorite pastime, and no, I'm not referring to baseball or football. This pastime doesn't cost any money. You don't need tickets, and there's no set game time. It happens every day. You don't need to be physically fit. You don't need special training. We do it at book club, at work, on the road, in meetings, having lunch with friends, etc. You get the idea. What is it? Complaining. We love to complain, and I'm right there in the fray, tearing everything and everyone apart. Sometimes it wears me out. My mom passed away many years ago, and one of my all-time favorite memories of life with her goes back to my summer between high school and college. We worked together that summer. Drove together every morning, bright and early, right into the rising sun. One morning, my mom reached into her purse and grabbed her sunglasses, putting them on just as we rounded the bend on the St. Louis-rush-hour-busy road that put us directly in the sun's pat
Post a Comment
Read more

1%

Gideon: By his own admission, his family was the weakest of his tribe, and he was the weakest in his family (Judges 6: 15-16). Midianites: Big bullies who oppressed the Israelites back in the day. As the story goes, this little-nobody-Gideon is doing manual labor for his dad (I'm thinking that this might be akin to working at Walmart - not exactly a career - or even a job - that causes anyone to preen), when an angel calls him, "a mighty man of valor" (Judges 6: 12). Huh? Oh, you mean this other guy, right? Nope, I'm talkin' to you. Fast forward and we find this little-nobody-Gideon camping near Israel's oppressors with a team of 32,000. This seems like a lot until Gideon checks out the enemy and finds that there are so many Midianites and their pals, the Amalekites, that no one can count them. They seemed "like locust in abundance and their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore." (Judges 7: 12) Gulp. What does God
1 comment
Read more