Open Spaces

You can find out a lot about a person by how they handle parking their car in a busy and full parking lot. So what about you? Do you circle and circle and circle until you have a spot within 100 feet of the door? Or do you pull in the first spot you find even though it’s a quarter of a mile from the store? Or do you circle once, give up, and end up out in the hinterland? Or do you turn to God and demand He find you a spot, thank Him when He does, and see the whole process as either an encouragement in your faith or raises serious doubts when “the space” does not appear? Or does it become an opportunity for marital strife if you are not alone in the car and receiving direction as to what you should do?

You didn’t realize there was so much you could learn in a parking lot, did you?

Regardless of your approach to parking, we are all looking for the same thing – an open space. A space we can call home for our car. We are encouraged when we find one, discouraged when we don’t.

I have been greatly blessed by open spaces (not in the parking lot, however). In fact, these open spaces I’ve experienced have been a means of grace and love. I’ve found these open spaces in people’s lives. There was a place for me to “park,” to call home. It wasn’t so much a place but a relationship.

As my family fell apart during a family crisis, a friend opened his life to me and invited me in. He let me be a part of his family without expectations. He loved me (and my family) through a very difficult time in our lives. He was always available. He didn’t force me to talk or share, but he’d listen when I was ready to do so. He loved me by making space in his life for me.

When I moved to the mission field, I mean, Michigan, I came alone - me and my 1977 Ford LTD. I was 22 and trying to figure out what it meant to be a youth minister, an adult, and involved in the lives of junior high and senior high students. One family in particular invited me into their space. I became part of the family. I ate meals with them, went on vacation with them, and was always welcome to come over and raid the fridge. And once again, the space I was invited into was their lives. Once again, there were no hidden agendas or expectations, just the freedom to be me WITHIN their family.

A few years later I house-sat for a family. It was to be for three weeks and I ended up staying four years. An open space was made for me and I was invited to stay. It was so much more than a room and a bed. I was invited into this family’s life. I became part of their family. I still am today.

Do you have open spaces in your life for others? Are we willing to not only give some of your stuff but to give your time, your ear, your family? Are we willing to make space for new relationships?

People are looking for open spaces. Most often, they don’t find them. The lot seems full and they become discouraged. Sadly, even those who follow the great space-maker, Jesus Christ, get our lives so full with our stuff and our friends and our agendas that we don’t have space. So people drive on by.

Open a space at your dinner table. This is a very simple and practical way to invite someone into your life – have them over for a meal. There are people in your life, whom you know, who are spending a lot of time driving around a full parking lot. What will they find when they drive by your space? Is there room for them?
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The idea for a title came from a book I recently read by Jim Palmer, Wide Open Spaces (Thomas Nelson, 2007). Definitely worth reading.