“Your soul is the vessel God fills, yet there is no room for him to fill if your soul is wrung out, twisted, haggard, fried. Put another way, your hands cannot receive a gift while they are still tightly clenched. This is the condition we are trying to recover from and avoid further commerce with. Which brings us to how important transitions are as an expression of kindness.”- John Eldredge
“The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.”- John 1:43 (NIV)
In Chapter 6 (“Allowing for Transitions”) of Get Your Life Back, John Eldredge begins with a comment about the so-called jet lag of international travel. John observes that when you travel long distances on a jet you feel like you’ve left a little of your soul behind. And it often takes your soul days to catch up. Hence, it’s jarring to jump from reality to another. You need time to transition.
Furthermore, we tend to overlook all the in-between times in the Gospels. Times when Christ and His disciple walked from one town to another. Because we project our own pace onto this journey. Yet, it took Jesus and His disciples days to walk to the next town. John explains:
“Christ does not move immediately from one dramatic story to another; there was downtime, transition time between those demands. Time to process what had happened. . . . Time to catch their breath before the next encounter. That was the pace Jesus felt was reasonable for people engaged in important things and wanting a life with God.”
However, in the midst of an overflowing life, we wonder why it’s so difficult to find God. To receive more of Him. That’s because we force our souls through multiple gear-changes throughout the day. Thus, we find ourselves unsure of what we feel. And we live at one speed: go. Consequently, we force all the subtleties of human experience into a single state of being.
Today’s question: What Bible verses make room in your soul as the vessel God fills? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Transition time – our souls need it”
