Is God Opening a Window for You?

Empty time and empty space can be disconcerting, unless it is, of course, that these can be attributed to God’s hand of favour for change in your life.

And if not change, perhaps it’s a brief moratorium, in place to catch your breath, to prepare, to learn something, or simply to relax.

We are very apt in this busy life to think ourselves hard-done-by for being left without things to do, as if the whole world revolved around us and only us. When there’s an absence of activity, conversation or general interest, or less than we’re normally involved in, there can be the presence of that gnawingly vacant feeling inside.

As people, most of us want to be involved in life. This means relating with people and having fun in the company of others, if not learning from them.

But there might be a purpose in this brief ceasefire.

God might be saying to us, “Here’s a window; seek and you shall find what I’m leading you to.”

We have to be careful, of course, that we don’t accede to our own desire for withdrawal, i.e. into complacency or procrastination, but usually those of us questioning “Why the quiet time?” are not really after such sojourning.

Accounting for the Future

None of us truly knows what our futures are bringing us.

Therefore, it is a thing of high possibility that God will be opening up time and space, at times, for change. We can never quite grow comfortable with this concept, however, for the future is an unknown to us, and without bearing or datum we can feel somewhat lost to it all.

Careful Not To Close the Window Before the Bird’s Flown Out

Because of our tepid spirits we do have a struggle maintaining our opened windows; those to the possibilities of something new.

Like the image of the opened window that lets in a dove, which flies around quite chaotically in a strange environment, we and it are doomed if we close the window before it makes its retreat back outside.

Likewise, it’s the insightful wisdom of self-restraint to allow the window to be open in the presence of our discomfort.

The window might be open for a reason. It’s not until we enquire of God about that possibility that we’re likely to see or understand. We best leave it ‘as is’ then and seek to explore gently the meaning of it all.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.