“That sounds a little woo-woo,” an acquaintance muttered when I mentioned that I’d been holding space for a mutual friend in a certain circumstance.
Woo-woo? Holding space? Well...
What do I mean by holding space?
Just that. For me, holding space is keeping a place of openness, a cavity in reality that I invite God to fill. In my heart and mind, of course, and sometimes literally, sitting quietly with my palms upraised.
At its most basic I suppose, holding space is primarily prayer, but without the words. When I have a specific situation in mind, but I don’t know what to pray for, or when I’ve prayed so much but the heavens seem brass, holding space is how I maintain an attitude of prayer around it without becoming stressed out over what I cannot impact right now. When I’m weary of “praying”--whatever praying is supposed to be, I can still hold space.
Holding space is accepting the time it’s going to take, waiting on the unknown, waiting on that for which I see no evidence.
Holding space is a way to practice expecting it to be good--the details that God is pulling together.
Behind my holding space is a definite setting of intention. My intention to keep hoping. My ongoing intention to release what I may want. My intention to obey when I do understand that instruction has been given. My intention to go slow and not force it.
What do you think? Is that woo-woo? Or is it being more consciously cooperative with the Holy Spirit on a really practical level?
Give it a try and tell me what you think.
Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
Toward the promise,
Lana
# 334
A poem is a
short lecture
Full of statements
implications
ideas
Which you may
tease out
with appreciation
Or leave untouched
As your sensibilities
take lead or
remain circling the corral
Do you attend lectures
or do you
In light or sound or color
In texture or word or motion or
any fascinating thing
Present your own?
2-13-23
#317
Another morning and I wake with thirst for the goodness I do not have.
Mary Oliver, Thirst, 2006
I asked God to teach me about
praise
And the lessons seemed to be about
silence
I am slow and easily
distracted
So it took a long time to realize
He has been teaching me about
worship
Which is deliberate bowing
down
Utterly without words preferring not
myself
May one day the clot of me
dissolve
And the unblocking cause
A whirlwind and a
fountain
1-16-23
Here’s the link to the last issue New