The Holy Spirit: A Parking Space
Today started like a lot of days, a carryover from the night before. Awake before the alarm with the clutch of my brain in gear before my feet hit the bedroom floor the day’s race began. With thoughts moving from 0 to 100 kilometers an hour I down shifted before negotiating that first hairpin turn into the bathroom. Splashing water on my face didn’t wash away the night’s insomnia. I wasn’t rested; a result of a head still in drive from the previous day’s run. Sometimes it’s difficult to park thoughts.
“It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be.” Lord, it is night. | Liturgy
Research suggests we think between 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts a day (How Many Thoughts Per Day?). With the Internet and burgeoning social media the numbers are likely higher.
Our heads are busy freeways with lots of distraction–time to exit and find a parking space.
The Holy Spirit: 10 Minutes is Enough
“Ah, there’s one.” I breathe in relief as I turn into an empty parking space.
But I’m not shutting down the engine at Costco. Still dressed in pyjamas I sit in a recliner chair in my bedroom with a warm mug in hand. Instead of heading downstairs from the bathroom straight into my home office I had diverted to the kitchen, made a cup of tea and returned to the bedroom.
I don’t intend to stay long, maybe ten minutes. But it turns out ten minutes is enough.
I start with meditation trying to clear the detritus from my mind: putting out garbage thinking, emptying the recycling of incessant thoughts. For a place so crowded it’s amazing that any speed ever gains traction. How adept I have become at moving fast through chaos but bear exhaustion as the cost.
My meditation practice is not very successful and after a few minutes I give up. But it’s just enough to create a small space. And that’s all the Holy Spirit needs.
The Holy Spirit: Nothing and Everything
Carved out is a small, uncluttered space.
What happens in that space?
Nothing and everything.
Nothing because the space is clear; everything because I can breathe.
Nothing because the space is empty; everything because the space is God’s presence and I am in it.
It is a good place to begin.
“And I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper, to be with you forever…” John 14:16 (ESV)
To be continued…
Now that I’m retired, I have a little less on my plate but still appreciate the time you speak of where I find time to communicate, breathe in and share my life with one or all of God The Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit…..I can’t imagine living a life without the love, comfort, truth and light that my faith gives me.