Between Week Two

 

Last week, we explored and examined the space between your head, heart, and soul.  The space between moments when you absorb the words and actions of another and when you respond and react to what you’ve encountered.  There are four spaces that Pastor Steve Cuss identifies where energy or emotions exist and emerge from ~

 

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 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!)

 

Over the last several weeks, I shared with you the September slowdown.  Those meditations were an invitation to explore and experience the space inside you.  I wanted you to find ways to listen to your life.  My prayer is for God to be the editor of my story, I tell myself.  But others have red ink pens, making comments on what they think I should be doing.  Hearing my own voice and God’s voice is difficult.  Plus, my brain already has a narrative about who I am ~ which is not always positive.  I tend to hold onto my mistakes way too long.  To listen for God and God’s words written on my heart is to rewire the pathways of my brain.  While this is possible, it takes a lot of intention and energy.  The space inside you is cluttered, and cleaning out the cobwebbed corners will take more than a month of slowing down; it takes a lifetime.  Many prayer practices are about checking in with yourself.  Remember back to the beginning of Jeremiah.  He said, “I am only/just a child”.  The multiple ways we see ourselves impact and influence how we show up.  Most mystics believe that you have a public self (the one you post online), a private self (that maybe you share with family or friends), and a secret/shadow self (that you don’t let see the light of day to anyone, even yourself).  Think about the stories you tell about yourself.  Maybe your meta-story is of having nothing and being successful.  Maybe you share stories about having everything and losing it all.  Maybe it is a story about everyone being against you.  Maybe your stories reinforce that there is nothing special about you, just an average life.  If you are curious about the story you are telling, listen the next time you are sharing an experience with a family member or friend.  Are you the hero or the zero?  Are you often the one being criticized or dehumanized by others?  How would God write that story?  If you are even braver, you may want to ask a close friend, “How do you experience me?”  That is a tough question to ask, to be asked, and to listen to a response!  Today, explore the space in you.  The thoughts, emotions, questions, and unresolved clutter that sit in the corner.  List what swirls in your soul and let the love of God hold all you are, remembering that you are more than “just” or “only”.  You are known by God before you know anything, even right here and now.  Amen.