The old garage has been demolished this week at The Vicarage Jubilee Terrace. Access onto the drive will now be much better and we’ll be able to get our van onto the property and close the gates. But the most striking thing is the fact that it’s opened up the space. If you look out from the back door the whole area just looks so much bigger! Removing the garage has created space.
I often come across people who would like more space. Space to do things differently. Space for family. Space to rest. Space to think. Space to be. Often the best way to create space is to remove something.
It could be removing something physical – like a garage. It could be removing an internal wall in a house to ‘open up the space’. It could be clearing an area in the garden over winter so you can prepare for planting vegetables in the spring. But it could be opening a time space, perhaps by removing a regular commitment in the diary that needs to end. It could be intentionally watching 30 minutes less TV to talk with your children or going to bed 15 minutes earlier to make space next morning to pray and read the Scriptures.
Whatever it is, it will probably not happen without determination – because removing things is normally difficult. In my experience adding something is so much easier than stopping something! Nevertheless removal is important and usually crucial to making space.
As we approach December and enter the season of Advent in preparation for Christmas, many find more things added to their calendar and to life in general. How do I fit it all in? And how do I make space for Christ at Christmas? The answer is by making space.
If you want to have a truly merry and contended Christmas season, you need to decide NOW (before it all starts) what needs removing, even temporarily. Otherwise you’ll get to Christmas Day exhausted and may even miss the reason for the season. Don’t do that. Instead, intentionally open up some space. You’ll love the view.
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