Living Room

The phrase captured my imagination.

The first winter storm of the season was on the way and I was listening to a program on safe winter driving.

A driving instructor mentioned teaching his students to maintain space between themselves and the cars around them. He called this, the “Living Room.”

The Living Room can mean the difference between surviving or not, if something unexpected happens, but it wasn't surviving on the road that I was thinking about.

I was struck by how we need to maintain living room in our lives, too. Living room; space; margin. There is so little of this precious commodity these days and it's one of the things I treasure in the days between Christmas and New Years; the luxury of some "living room."

Somewhere, between the feasting, making of turkey soup, visits with friends and cleaning up of empty boxes and wrapping paper, I will find time to reflect and recalibrate; thinking time; listening time.

In this time of solitude I find focus and clarity. In the quietness, I find rest for my soul.

Psalm 46:10-11 (New International Version)
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Thank you Lord for the gift of time, you who are the God of Eternity.
I pray for your presence; I long to hear your voice; to sense your direction and to feel your peace as I seek your face.

Comments

Anonymous said…
it must be nice to be senior staff and not a support worker, who has to work christmas to new yrs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6:55 AM
Belinda said…
I know that juggling schedules so that people are supported over the holidays means that not everyone has the luxury I have had of this time off.

As a house parent for ten years, sharing my life every day with people who needed support, I didn't have the luxury of the time I have now, but our whole family was there, as was the celebration. Of course I never actually had a day off but sharing those special times with other people had its own rewards and blessings that our children still talk about.

Thank you for the work you do, including giving up some of what the rest of the world may take for granted.
3:20 PM
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