In a hallway on the other side of the building from my office are two sofas. They are more like love seats. They form the angle of a third of an apple pie, two slices, one for you, one for me. When you sit on these sofas, your back is to a couple windows, your face is toward the empty church sanctuary, hidden behind a brick wall. And most of the time, traffic in this hallway is light.
A couple times a week, when I remember, I walk to the sofas with a cup of coffee and a pile of lists. It’s a printout of my current projects, the list of drafts of various writing things, some articles that I want to read, the list of things that have to get done before I walk out of the building.
I never stay on the sofas very long, unless I fall into the sleep that looks, I tell myself, exactly like prayer. I never stay long because when I sit down and start to look at the list, I start writing. The log-jam clears. I make sketched-out progress on four or six of the things on the list, enough to go back to my office and my computer and write emails and essays and next steps.
There is nothing special about the sofas, I don’t think. Except that I intentionally move away from my connections. I intentionally move away from people. I intentionally move to God.
Because when I walk to those sofas, I am also saying “I need to be able to hear you God.” I would like to believe that it’s what Jesus did when he walked away from the crowds into the hills to pray. When I remember, that’s what I do, taking my lists and brainstorming with God.
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emilyinmaine
Thankyou! I don’t know at what point I had begun to dig a deep boundary between sacred (quiet time, worship, prayer) and ‘stuff’ (my lists), but your post outed me to myself. Time to bust that boundary and let the Sacred ooze around more freely. (Is the image of God oozing irreverant?)
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cjhinx
I enjoy when someone comes up with an image that is different that the normal “church lingo” that we use. “Ooze” sheds a different light on his presence.
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Jon Swanson
Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote:
THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed.
So you can use it, too.
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cjhinx
I am very grateful to be able to make time each day to get away to spend some time alone with God. But there were times in my life, especially when my girls were young, that these times were few and far between. I completely understand when someone says they are in that same place.
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Rich Dixon
I’ll bet lots of us have places like that. Strikes me that you go there a couple of times a week, when you remember. I wonder why we avoid the very places and activities that actually get us closer to God and help us “clear the logjam.”
Oh…I forgot. We’re busy getting stuff done.
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Jon Swanson
well, see, I was hoping no one would notice that Rich, though I had to say it to be honest.
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Frank Reed
I wonder what it might look like if we had to remove ourselves from time with God to get our worldly stuff done. I am desperately seeking more time with Him but this annoying habit of allowing the world to take up most of my time is a tough one to break.
Having it backwards for such a long time creates a very deep rooted way of doing things that only Christ can change. I just need to get out of the way.
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Jon Swanson
but what if there isn’t as clear a divide as we think?
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