A Season for the Spirit: All Things Are There!

"You yourself are even another little world and have within you the sun and the moon and also the stars." - early Christian quote by Origen

To simply pause and think about the Spirit of God in us will often create an image that the human person is a miniature world. Martin L. Smith has a reproduction of a scroll by beside his bed that contains the words, "Self revealed: all things in heaven and earth exist in oneself."

There is so much there! So much within us! But there exists a great temptation to believe that we are simply a number to God. To even imagine our heart having many rooms of unfathonable depths is risky. For to believe it is admit that we ourselves may not be aware of all that is there.
What will we do if we discover by the Spirit's exploration that there exists 'reception rooms,' 'offices,' and 'passages?' How must we pray if in our heart lies death and life and righteousness and wickedness? If we left it there then it would be daunting and scary. But if we consider the fact that the king of the palace is Christ, then we may be more open to let him have access to our miniature world. The heart is small but in it dwells 'dragons' and 'lions' but it is also where Christ rests. "All things are there."

"You are God's world in miniature," writes Smith.

"We do not get tiny bits of his attention and care because God is wholly present and wholly available."

So how do these profound statements work into our normal routine of daily life. We do have responsibilities in which to tend! Well, Christ has asked each of us to slow it down, rest in him, and meet him in solitude. And during this Lenten season we all have the joy of knowing that we do not go about it alone. You join others in moments of solitude each day. We are doing what Christ has asked us to do and it is only there that we can allow him to take us into the 'wilderness' of our soul. We must find time to be alone so that truth can be revealed.

If this is done then we cannot avoid the questions of "Is God there for me?" or "Is God's attention absorbed by the vast world?" Should we bother God then?

But it is when we are alone that we can be assured that "the father who knows us in secret, secretely sees the whole world in each one of us and loves it, and cares for everything about us and in us."