emptiness

I was just thinking last night that I'm afraid of spending time with God because I'm afraid of what He'd do next!!

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Tuesday February 28, 2012

Letting Go of Our Fear of God

We are afraid of emptiness. Spinoza speaks about our "horror vacui," our horrendous
fear of vacancy. We like to occupy-fill up-every empty time and space. We want to
be occupied. And if we are not occupied we easily become preoccupied; that is, we
fill the empty spaces before we have even reached them. We fill them with our worries,
saying, "But what if ..."

It is very hard to allow emptiness to exist in our lives. Emptiness requires a willingness
not to be in control, a willingness to let something new and unexpected happen.
It requires trust, surrender, and openness to guidance. God wants to dwell in our
emptiness. But as long as we are afraid of God and God's actions in our lives, it
is unlikely that we will offer our emptiness to God. Let's pray that we can let
go of our fear of God and embrace God as the source of all love.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen