Remember these words from a song?
"... where do I begin to tell the story..."
for such a TIME as this
however
I still am not able.
O Lord, the house of my soul is too small for You
to enter:
make it more spacious by Your coming.
~St. Augustine
So, as I looked at the One Word for this week in the
SPACE
I was thinking "no way" can I connect with this One Word
until I read the following "Reading for Reflection":
"In biblical Hebrew, the letters yodh and shin combine to form a root that connotes “space and the freedom and security which is gained by the removal of constriction.” From this YS root come words like yesha and yeshuah, referring to salvation. When you think about it, it makes sense that space would be intimately associated with salvation. Space is freedom: freedom from confinement, from preoccupation, from oppression, from drivenness, and from all the other interior and exterior forces that bind and restrict our spirits. We need space in the first place simply to recognize how compelled and bound we are. Then we need space to allow the compulsions to ease and the bonds to loosen. In the Hebrew sense, our passion needs elbowroom. To the extent that space is permitted by grace and our own willingness, we discover expanding emptiness in which consecration can happen, room for love to make its home in us. (The Awakened Heart by Gerald G. May) "Day 1 (August 10, 2014) Ps18:
16-19
"Spaciousness is always a beginning, a possibility, a potential, a capacity for birth. Space exists not in order to be filled but to create. In space, to the extent we can bear the truth of the way things are, we find the ever-beginning presence of Love. Take the time, then; make the space. Seek it wherever you can find it, do it however you can. The manner does not matter, and the experience you have there is of secondary importance. Seek the Truth, not what is comfortable. Seek the Real, not the easy. (The Awakened Heart by Gerald G. May) Day 2 (Friday in book: John 8:31-38)
[Day 3 (Romans 5:1-2), Day 4 (Tues.in bk: Deut. 8:1-20), Day 5,(Thurs. in bk; Deut 11:8-32) Day 6 , Day 7 (Sun.in bk, Ps. 37:1-11) for this week at blog online, which may or may not follow The Blue Book order as noted, confusion😕 |
Maybe if you're familiar with my situation or me, you may understand,after reading this without further explanation.
Without sharing too many of the details, I will share the basics that after this past year of caregiving again,
from Covid to bacterial pneumonia, to hospital home care, followed by Hospice and then Hospice again, then referred to Palliative Care and then more happened quickly(preceded by the Covid season and the prior caregiving season)for this same loved one with vascular dementia placed on Hospice back then, and now his rapid decline was at the end of this August and 1st week of September; which ended abruptly yet somewhat peacefully this past Saturday at
3:16
{significant}
So yesterday, Sunday, I broke with my Sunday routine of church online (pre-Covid) to actually being present with church family in our junior high school doing a series on the Holy Spirit (so appropriate) as often is the case for me so I actually experienced *this there (taken from the above reading) and on my way home:
suchFREEDOM
| "... *Space is freedom: freedom from confinement, from preoccupation, from oppression, from driven- ness, and from all the other interior and exterior forces that bind and restrict our spirits." |
So this post today was just to give a brief testimony to these wordsbut of course these last two weeks have been filled withMOMENTS
and also that is/was the name of our new Hospice teamMOMENTS
just a God-incidence
so once again
HE IS HEREHE IS WITH ME
in my thoughts, in my grief, in my memories,and in the healing restoration of my soul
in this
SPACE
wherever I go, I sense His Spirit
<>
Being open to how the Spirit leads through this One Wordthat on the surface, I might have thought it was irrelevant but finding it's much more than
"I could ever imagine"
This is how aMazing our God is!!!
We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that He has already thrown open His door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. (Romans 5:2 - The Message)
Bible Hub: SPACE, SPACIOUS
[what's given for "SPACE" at Bible Hub is what I thought of at 1st]that is why the reason I shared these
"Readings from Reflection" by G. May
because other Readings like on p. 306-7 by M J Thompson about "make more SPACE for God in our lives" changes the context & meaning ofSPACEand its use
My suggested advice:
JUST FIND YOUR
SPACEwith Godmore & moreas we move forwardfor the rest of 2025
<>
in the midst of so muchI realize the importance of staying with this
because we never know what
God
might be saying through each One Word
to our personal life application
<>
BTW
the first linked song
is not intended truthfully
as a real LOVE STORY between us
yet it does intertwine a complicated almost
50 years (& 55 of knowing each other)
with how God's Story of LOVE
makes or changes ALL for our good
as best He can, in spite of us,
while we press on in our life journeys
with our own right & wrong choices or decisions
... BUT GOD ...
He keeps working on each of us and
He will turn it around for His Glory somehow
if we remain close to Him & His Word as we
"SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM of GOD..."
just because the Almighty God
gives us freewill to choose
yet He still chooses us
and made a way
through His Son
Jesus Christ
then
gives us the freedom
-SPACE-
and plenty of TIME to make
all things beautiful
in the seasons
of our lives
to come
to
Him
for
eternity
and in-between
there are many encounters
and opportunities made available;
wonderful experiences & people
to interact with & share
the message of the
Gospel, the Good News.
We each can speak
LIFE
into someone else's life for eternity
like the Holy Spirit does
ever so gently & a constant prompt
(not by force or law)
yet through actions & words of
LOVE that BLESS
in those
SPACES
in-between
by Linda Ellis
