Spaciousness
How one word unlocked what I really want!
A dear friend offered me a single word that felt like being given a gift of a key to a box that needed opening in me. Spaciousness is the key that unlocked something in me—a keyword that brought epiphany, peace and assurance.
I have been reflecting on this beautiful word now for a couple of weeks— mining out the gold; exploring what perennial wisdom is embedded in such a word as this; then owning this word in my mind, body and soul.
To help me explore the term more deeply, I wrote a poem with alliteration to anchor the word deep with me so that I would not forget it and could recall the word as a gift.
Now, we are sitting at the coast at Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina. It’s deserted, hauntingly beautiful and spacious in every dimension possible.
Working Definition of the Spacious Life
A spacious life is one in which there is enough interior and exterior room to receive life rather than merely react to it. It is marked by an unhurried heart, freedom from compulsive striving, attentiveness to God, creation, and others, and a growing capacity for love, wonder, grief, joy, and faithful presence.
The opposite of spaciousness is not simply busyness but constriction—a life narrowed by fear, hurry, ego, performance, and scarcity.
So here , you have it. I’m thinking now that there’s more here than meets the eye or could ever be said on a poem. We shall see!
Does “spaciousness” stir you in some way?
Stephen
