Many rooms

Shortly before he died Jesus said this to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms.”

Shortly after she died my sister, Laura, came to me in a dream and showed me an extra room in my house that I did not know was there. I was amazed. I said to her, “There is so much room in here.”

“I know,” said Laura, "there always has been.” Then she smiled, then she was gone.

Contemplation is the gift of knowing about the absolute spaciousness of your own life. The spaciousness revealed by contemplation is the infinity of God dwelling in you as the “groundless ground” of your very life. To be given the gift of rest in that spaciousness, that room, is the deep hunger of your own heart.

The human condition is such that most of us can’t see the roominess of our lives. We have what we need in the indwelling of the Divine, but we live with an illusory sense that only exterior things will satisfy the hunger that aches inside us. Thus our lives become an exercise in grasping. “I’ll be happy when this or that happens or when I get this or that.” We think that way over and over again, day after day, eventually descending into a groove of unsettledness. All the while the room within awaits us.

There is room within you. Be still, be silent, and it will find you. There is room.