Finding Space...

Over the last few weeks the blog has been pretty much quiet; looking back over my calendar I’ve been keeping busy, doing stuff at church or within the Christian Union, sometimes actually doing this weird thing called university work. Either way life has been fairly busy of late.

In one of the blogs I’ve been reading Martin Smith writes:

"A strange thing is happening to me. I’m discovering an amazing commodity. It’s called space. It’s revealing a world to me that I seldom knew existed. Time to walk, read, fall in love again and spend minutes not just seconds gazing upon my childrens faces as they sleep…

The image that I started this blog entry with is 5 minutes walk away from my door step, but so rarely do I take the time to go there. I am very good at filling my day with things which I deem to be important, but hardly ever will I take the time to find this vital thing called space. A space to enjoy the things around me, to spend time with friends, to read a book, listen music, or just to view the world on my door step…

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper … Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:11-13

It’s when we take the time out to experience God, when we un-peal the layers which we build up in our life, that’s when God speaks. We need to take the time to step away from the busyness that we find ourselves in, just to stop, find some space and to listen to the sounds of God’s voice.

It is a lesson I still have to learn, and one that I have got to work on daily.