Making room

“She enters us not from above but from within.
The Holy Spirit does not arrive with thunder,
but like our breath, softly.
She is the insight before we speak,
the knowledge before we act,
the quiet shaping of what needs to be said.

The Holy Spirit does not descend,
she emerges in our empty spaces
like a secret we are ready to hear,
like warmth returning to cold hands,
like the comfort of a favorite melody.
She arises inside us to light our way,
waiting until we are ready,
not to lead us but to be us.”
— Jacqie Wallen, Seekers Church

Every Saturday, I receive a weekly devotion from Inward/Outward Together, a project of The Church of the Savior. This week, one phrase lingered with me long after I finished reading: “she emerges in our empty spaces…”

To be fully transparent, there are not many empty spaces in my life these days.

Life is full. Full of keeping up with my family. Full of traveling to churches to share about the work of BWIM NC. Full of sitting with women across the state, hearing their stories, celebrating milestones in ministry, and tending to the challenges they carry. Full of dreaming up creative ways to engage, encourage, and empower women in ministry.

And maybe that sounds familiar to you, too.

Many of us, especially women in ministry, have been formed to believe that faithfulness looks like doing more, being more, planning more, carrying more. Somewhere along the way, exhaustion became tangled up with discipleship.

But what if faithfulness also looks like making room?

Room to breathe.
Room to listen.
Room to notice the Spirit moving within us and around us.

Is there space in our lives for the Holy Spirit to emerge in those quiet places where we are still enough to hear and feel and see?

I am writing to you today to share what I have been trying to practice lately — and I need your help to hold me accountable.

I am trying to create more empty spaces.

I am trying to close the door on some of the busyness so I can breathe a little deeper and listen a little longer.

I am trying to leave room for the Holy Spirit to rise up inside of me and light my way.

Maybe you need that invitation, too.

Will you join me?

All love,
Leslie