How much space do we need in which we can  live? How many things do we need for fulfillment? Perhaps most of our lives are cluttered in some way or another – waiting for the next Jumble Sale to off load this and that. I read recently that we only have space for about thirty books – which would you choose and why?

Here is a picture of the my room in Brent House at the top of the house.

 I call it my small house. With my suitcase in the corner and shirts hanging on a couple of hooks – it is cosy and comfortable. There is a small table in the corner where I write my blogs and make a careful record of bits and pieces.

Wherever we live and however we live there are favourite corners in our lives and houses where we can curl up and nap or day dream or even read the Daily Telegraph – or in these parts the New York Times or Chicago Tribune! We hang up our apron and paste those cards to the pin board and the dog joins us in the corner. It is our space where we feel secure and warm and we can escape from whoever or whatever!

In this overactive world where do we find solitude? Being left alone is a joy where we can muse and wonder. All human beings have a need for seclusion – I expect even in Churches. We need the backs and corners of Churches where we can feel at home. Solitude invites the soul to encounter peace and vulnerability. These encounters can restore us and feed our growth. Solitude needs to be built into the pattern and rhythm of all of life.

I am glad of this aloneness as a time to rest and think. To look beyond ones own selfishness to discover new chioces and opportunities for God. I have had to learn to change pace in order to create the space within which to think. What has emerged has astonished me and if I am honest there is a clarity to my thinking that I cannot remember possessing  for some long time.

And what of your solitude time? Find or create a corner for some rest and space – to listen to and be heard by the one who created and redeemed you out of love.

He is getting serious I hear you say – yes and no – and for those activists amongst you who cannot sit still at all – here is a joke (and you had better laugh)

 

A priest, a minister and a rabbi are discussing what they would like people to say after they die and their bodies are on display in open coffins for people to pay their respects.

The priest says, ‘ I’d like someone to say – He was righteous, honest and generous’.

The minister says, ‘I’d like someone to say – He was kind and fair and good to his parishioners’.

The rabbi says ‘ I’d like someone to say – Look he is moving’!!!!