We should highly rejoice that God dwells in our soul
and still more highly should we rejoice that our soul dwells in God.
Our soul is made to be God's dwelling place,
and the dwelling place of our soul
is God who was never made.
Julian of Norwich
Our souls are the dwelling place of God, says Julian.
We are in God and God is in us. Wherever we are that is where we will find God.
These are the great spiritual truths upon which our prayer depends. If we did not believe tht God dwelt within us, we would be wandering in the desert searching for any clue that might tell us where we would find God.
And yet, I believe, that is what so many of us are doing, even within the context of prayer. We are looking outside ourselves for God. We are searchng the horizon for a sign of God’s power and God’s presence.
And the sign is there, isn’t it ? In the mountains and the seascape. In the sunrise and the moonlight. Still we search because we know that there is yet a more intimate sign of the love of God.
Julian of Norwich knows about finding God right where you are. She spent much of her life in a small cell next to a chapel in Norwich, England. I visited the reconstruction of this small room on a spring day. I was impressed by it’s size and it’s tidy starkness. There is very little to engage the mind—four walls, an altar, a bed and a table. There is a window through which conversations and food were shared during Julian’s time. It is in this empty space that Julian was freed to focus on Christ. And Christ did come to her in amazing visions filled with wisdom enough to last for the rest of her life.
We may not have visions. We may not have a tiny stark cell in which to focus our entire energy upon Christ. But we are, no less than Julian, filled with the reality of God. God dwells within us as surely as God dwelt within her.
Let us make a space, a tiny empty spot, within our hearts and invite God in. Let us stand at the window of our souls and converse with Christ.
Blessings,
Debra
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