This is a guest post by Linda Ricke.
We all seem to need a space for ourselves. Whole industries feed this desire. Some build elaborate monuments to themselves, skyscrapers that seem to defy the laws of physics and tower above other mere buildings around them. Others want land; they need their space with lots of space surrounding it, like a virtual island. Lately we’ve learned that our spaces create a carbon footprint. Many embrace an ideal of a space using the least possible natural resources, but they still want that space.
It seems hardwired into us. Our most basic form of punishment puts those who violate the law into tiny spaces without personal touches or privacy. Sometimes homeless people live in cardboard boxes. Even those who have lost their spaces find ways to create something, anything to provide them with shelter, a rudimentary level of comfort, and a way to define where they live.
God doesn’t care about the spaces we have created for ourselves. He wants us to live more grandly than any earthly space allows, to find our comfort in Him, to not get so caught up in creating our own spaces that we become blind to why God created us—to reside with Him in eternity.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
What a fascinating topic. I’ve never consciously pondered the “spirituality of space” before. Thanks for getting me thinking.
Not to get all English teacher-y here, but your post also makes me remember Hamlet’s line, about how he could be bounded in a nutshell and count himself a king of infinite space. It’s always been one of my favorite lines in the play. In a way, I guess that’s what a relationship with God is all about, isn’t it? — transcending the limits of the earthly spaces we inhabit.
Thanks Ginny, for the Hamlet line and also the wonderful way you link it to our relationship with God.
Incidentally I don’t see why adding quotes of other people to comments is “teacherish” at all. Isn’t it great to have expansions !!:-)) So, here’s another : To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage.
William Blake
Blessings
Well, I recognise the idea that we may have a hardwired urge to show off. It is evolutionary and part of our efforts to attract a mate and reproduce. So, we try to ensure that our surroundings are secure and attractive, etc. However, as with all things, it seems that God’s invitation to us is to overcome those hardwired urges. Personally, my own state of mental well being is vastly improved when all the peripheral stuff is abandoned. Worrying about how my space appears, or how I appear for that matter, only adds a layer of stress which I assume God wants me to lay down. The fact that I feel better when I do try to lay them down tells me that it must be the way to go.
I think the Hamlet quote is apt. The more aware you become of who you are the less important the outside trappings become. William Morris – just to add to the teacher-y tone – said not to have anything around you that wasn’t useful or beautiful. Saying that – our surroundings can still be simple – we often suffer from stuff-overload.
I do suffer from people overload and find a need for a quiet corner, or a walk. Jesus needs his lonely places – that’s good enough for me.
I don’t think anyone sounds teacher-y. I think y’all sound intelligent and well-read.
It’s interesting you mention William Morris. I have a desk that is not functional due to the size of its desktop and is a catch all for all the stuff that one normally puts on a desk. So, it’s not beautiful, either. It’s too crowded. And it drives me nuts. It violates its reason for being. I believe that if the things in my home do no fit into the beautiful or useful or loved category, they should not be here, and usually I let them go to someone else who needs them. That’s how I try to fight stuff-overload. But why should I get another desk when I already have one?
Obviously, I don’t always succeed at keeping my space simple. And obviously, God doesn’t care what my space looks like, He just wants its importance to not get in the way of my relationship with Him.
This post has my mind whirring – very thought provoking and in the best sort of way. And Ginny’s insertion of the Hamlet quote and Mairie’s additional thoughts are well put.
Now I am thinking of the Jessica Power’s poem, “The House At Rest.” Which is about God, who is our home indeed.
I’m going to look up the poem.
There’s a big difference between a house and a home. If the family is the first church, then the home itself is sacred space. Children are brought into the world, meals are shared, friends and strangers alike are welcomed; the ill are comforted, wounds of both the physical and emotional varity are tended to and Love is invited and dwells within. It can be a box, a flat, or a mansion if love resides there. We spent the last month on theZuni Reservation in New Mexico in a tent, but we did not leave our home behind, it travelled with us. We have to make the distinction between the building and “home “.
Well put. I agree. Our homes are very important, but they are temporary. Our eternal home is with God (I hope and pray.)
Oh. I suppose I just have a different orientation when I think of God, or the Kingdom. I don’t think that God is “out there” somewhere waiting for us to prove ourselves worthy. When I think of God, I think of God Present and the kingdom as a call for each of us to bring that kingdom forth into this world. Why else pray, “Thy kingdom come……………on earth as in heaven”? If we can’t act in a loving, forgiving and merciful manner to those we’re most called to love (including ourselves), I don’t think that we stand a chance of bringing that kingdom to manifestation in a world struggling with poverty, war, disease, disease, violence and environmental degradation. I believe that God is already here with us, we just don’t always see Him/Her. It’s difficult enough for me to think of bringing God to presence in the here and now, let alone focus on eternity. It, in some small way, seems almost as if it’s a bribe, you know. “I’ll do this and act this way in exchange for eternity.” All the temples, mosques, cathedrals, pyramids were built as expressions of God. All great works of art, music, architecture are works of God. God working through man/woman. Our children are works of God. But then, don’t pay too much attention to my opinion. I have no formal religious or theological background. I just pray and contemplate and listen and look.
and wonder.
I am with Mairie on this one. Up to being in my late 30′s I did’nt like or want “my own space”. Now I think it is healthy. Spent a long weekend in France with relatives and much as I enjoyed it; I missed the “me” time as there was always “Noise” ie Olympics left on even when nobody was watching it; and volume not turned down even when some of us had gone to bed.
This is an interesting discussion. We all need boundaries, those lines where we don’t want anyone to cross. But we all need enough space to let others, and God in.
In my original writing of this post, I talked about boundaries, but due to space considerations (no pun intended), I decided to make it the topic of my next post.
I guess what I really like about this post is to be reminded that I am the space Godde wants
That makes me feel really very special…
Thank you to my Anglo-Saxon friends for enlightening me culturally
I am so humbled by all of your comments. You find more than I ever thought was in my words. Thank you for the opportunity to start this discussion.