There's a piece in today's reading that really snagged me today. Muller says, " When we stop even for a moment, we can feel the burning, empty hole in our belly. So we keep moving..."
Ah, yes, the hole in your soul -- the one Pascal and Augustine wrote about...the one folk singers and rock stars alike have sung about...you know the hole in your soul. Now, who knows where the soul is located for sure. For those of you who tend to go with your gut, that above quotation makes sense. If you are a heart or head person, it may not resonate with you as much. But, I would say, if you are a heart or head person, just substitute the word that applies to you. The metaphor for this emptiness we all feel in life works either way.
We all have this hole in our soul. We try to fill it up with lots of things:
- too much work and a false sense of accomplishment
- too much stuff and a false sense of security
- too many relationships or unhealthy ones and a false sense of belonging
- too much food and a false sense of fullness
- addictions to substances, gambling, sex, or reckless behavior and false sense of freedom
The list is endless. The truth is none of these things really fills that big gaping hole in the middle of our lives. So, we keep doing and consuming at the same breakneck pace thinking that something will really satisfy, when nothing ever does.
Some theologians and philosophers have surmised that this hole in your soul is shaped like God and that only God will truly fit there. In all my searching, I would agree. The more we find that balance between work and sabbath in my life, the more I find it to be true.
What about you?
My life's spiritual journey is one which resonates with Leah's message here. Sometimes one of the most difficult actions for me to take is non action- to simply sit and "be".
ReplyDeleteEach Wednesday evening some of the campus ministry students and I come together. each with our own lit candle, to meditate in silence for about 20 minutes before sharing our prayers to one another and then to God who knows what we need even before we ask.
It never ceases to amaze me just how much much that simple time together speaks to those who come-- and to me.
I have come to understand that only God can fill the God-shape vacuum in my life.
Thank you, Leah, for nudging me to remember - once again.