Between Week 2

 

Did you discover or uncover anything new about the story and space inside you?  Did you overhear yourself talking about how clearly your doctor has it out for you, or how that obnoxious person at the meeting you can’t stand clearly wants to make you look bad?  There is a story in you, and that impacts not only the story we tell about ourselves, but how we see others.  Remember the four spaces:

 

1. The space inside you ~ this is the space in your head, heart, body, and soul.

2. The space inside another person ~ this is the space in the head, heart, body, and soul of the person to whom you are interacting.

3. The space between you and another person ~ this is the “third space” ~ the energy generated in the meeting.  Think of a Venn diagram ~ where you are one circle and the other person is a separate circle ~ but when you come together, your circles at least touch or intersect.  This is creates a new energy that is more than just the sum of the parts of you and the other.

4. The space between others in a group ~ this is when the Venn diagrams of a group all intersect ~ sometimes beautifully (think of our choir singing) or chaotically (think of that meeting where anxiety and anger hovered/hummed in the air ~ and got into your lungs!)

 

The second space is what is stirring/swirling inside another.   Upfront, I need to say this is a space you cannot control or ever comprehend.  If I were made king for the day, I would outlaw the phrase, “I know exactly how you feel.”  You don’t.  I would suggest lovingly, you don’t even know how you feel sometimes!  Yet, how much time and energy ~ anger and attention ~ effort and hours in a day do we spend defining, describing, and trying to influence the space of what is in another?  We used to think that if we just gave someone enough information s/he/they would clearly be convinced by our brilliance.  We used to think that if we just gave someone a pamphlet, book, brought them to a seminar, or exposed them to the “truth”, all would be well.  Only, that isn’t how the world works.  There are people I have known and talked to for years who still have opinions that are opposed to mine.  The space inside another is not yours to fix or save.  This is gut-wrenching because others can hurt us, and we want to salvage the relationship.  This is where anger, anxiety, stress, and strain start to swirl within us.  When have you tried to educate someone and your words fell flatter than a cake without baking soda?  When have you tried to fix someone, only to have them resist your words?  This is what we heard in Jeremiah on Sunday.  Remember, you are in good company; most of Israel wasn’t convinced or convicted by the prophet's words!  Notice this space as you tend the one holy space in you where you and God collaborate and cooperate and can co-author the stories you tell yourself/others about who you are.  Amen.