I commend to everyone that they read Tom’s comments to several of my last posts in case you’ve wondered what he’s up to these days. Just go to www.thehubbellpew.com.
I have been writing Tom about finishing my novel, and once again feeling that I had enough time to get back to writing this blog and spending time meditating and reading other’s thoughts. It feels good, but I hadn’t thought much about why. This last week I finally started making use of St. Johns’ website to listen on occasion to Luis’s sermons. Several friends had suggested I do that, and I’m glad I finally did. Several days ago, I listened to his sermon about the Three Wise Men and as represented it was a doozy. It got me thinking about Christmas pageants and my son Walter’s first role beyond being a “friendly beast.” He was the innkeeper who said to Mary and Joseph, “There’s no room.” (not exactly but forgive the literary license).
It struck me like so many verses in the Bible that you hear over and over. They are just part of the story, and then they strike you. The innkeeper was simply giving expression to what so many of us do every day. We are so busy, our day is so full, life is so all-consuming that we are full, just like the inn. There’s no room for God. We might even do what the innkeeper does, find them space in an out building – a barn or a stable. I had never stopped to think that perhaps by saying, “I’ll go to Church Next Sunday, I’ll start doing some charity work next year when I’m not so busy, or I’ll drop a note to a sick friend rather than visit, I might be saying my inn is too full for God or I’m putting him in the barn. Whether it’s a sabbatical, a retreat, or merely a few minutes a day we need to empty ourselves to make room for God. W.
“We must free ourselves to be filled by God. Even God cannot fill what is full.” Mother Teresa.
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