Supplements

Commentary

By Liz Quirin

'Space' Crucial in Our Lives

Space! It’s not the “final frontier” as the disembodied voice of the old “Star Trek” television series told us. Rather, it is what we have all around us — at arm’s length or enfolded close inside our hearts. We view our space in different ways depending on the circumstance or situation. We’re not talking about parking space although that can become a hot commodity at stores or even the church depending on the time of year. Mostly, it refers to our personal space and what we decide to do with it.

If we’re trying to reconnect with a loved one after time or distance has separated us, we sometimes seem to have too much space and can’t bridge the chasm that exists between us and them. It takes more than physical effort to shrink the space and draw our loved ones back to us. It may require us to hold down our righteous rhetoric and find common ground within that space. We all know a “righteous” person who preaches to the crowds until he or she looks around to see the crowd has disappeared, and righteous or not, that person is preaching to no one.

On the other side of a space dilemma is someone who “invades” our space, tries to come too close and, in so doing, pushes us away. Personal space ought not be violated. It makes us uncomfortable, edgy, and generally not receptive to whatever point someone is trying to make with us.

However, anyone with children understands this from a different perspective: Children not only invade our personal space, they sometimes trample on it, but somehow, in retrospect, we don’t really mind. We gave them space within before they arrived, so taking space later just seems natural.

We also need to be aware of our space within, our sacred space where the Spirit dwells, where we can listen to and speak with God, where we can be silent on purpose. Making time to find and explore this space takes on real importance in these chaotic days when we see our economic security crumbling before our eyes and we hear so much bad news we can’t remember the Good News preached to us.

We can commandeer our space in many ways: driving the car with the talk shows exchanged for classical music or no sound at all, cell phones securely stowed away, or again, turned off; taking a walk or just sitting on a bench in the park or in a chapel or living room chair. In short, we can find our space almost anyplace where we choose not to multi-task ourselves into oblivion or at least “next week,” jeopardizing not only our health and well being but our ability to embrace ourselves, know who we are, what we should be about and letting the Spirit guide us into action.
No, space isn’t the final frontier, but it is a real place we must find, recognize and explore to reach out and touch the “sacred” in our lives.