This is a picture of my front porch stoop. It is a place that has been special to me in every house that we've lived in. It is a sacred space for me. Probably not for the reason you would think. You might think it's because that's where people enter my house. Nope. Good guess though. You might think that it's because the stoop is where we launch into the world. Wrong again.
This place (with each house we've lived in) has given me a place to think and pray. I usually go running in the morning. After a long run, I absolutely LOVE sitting on the stoop, to recover, and more often than not, meet with God. Many a song lyric has been written from the stoops of the houses we've lived in. Many a prayer has been offered to Christ on behalf of my family and my church. There is nothing super special about the place, except for the fact that I have met God there. I think it has something to do with my being ready to listen.
I have a feeling that this is how it was with the patriarchs of the faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Wherever they met with God, it became a sacred place.
They built altars there to remember:
Gen. 12:7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring [a] I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
They "raised their Ebenezers":
1Sam. 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us."
Do you have a sacred space? A place where you regularly "meet with God" in a special way? I know of friends who have special chairs in their houses where they meet with God. In the woods? On a beach? Where is yours?
2 comments:
On my back porch swing...
In my room with the door closed is my everyday place. But sometimes I need to get alone. One of my alone places is on a bench on walking trail #4 at Potato Creek State Park. Went there today, had a great talk with God.
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