Linger a While

“To be slow in parting or in quitting something” is how Miriam Webster defines this word LINGER. It is a word very appropriate to the summer season of enjoying holiday time, warm weather and visiting with friends in an unhurried atmosphere. This action of lingering has been written into much of my own activities this season, and I have become more conscious of how much the scent of sacred space comes with it. Lingering could be defined as purposeful movement of the heart and soul to remain present, having your senses fully alive, and allowing that moment to be imprinted into your soul. I am coming to believe it is an essential piece of being a follower of Jesus while we are show how to leave his fingerprints as we pass through life.

Retreat time holds much space for lingering, as do slow mornings, or quiet evenings. Linwood House is all about offering this space to those who come, and encouraging the embracing of that time.

What about the communion and essence of community that is held in the sacred space where we tarry or wait with each other? Is this not the kind of community Jesus modeled with breakfast on the beach, lunch for a crowd in the open park and inviting himself to dinner in other’s homes?

A group of women have been meeting on Wednesday evenings to pursue the study Experiencing God. The allotted time is 1.5 hours for each evening but we have never been able to leave before 3 hours have passed! We just cannot seem to condense it to anything less as there is so much to share about what God is speaking in our daily lives. There is an abundance of fellowship happening in our evening together and someone mentioned that this is truly church to them. Community that the soul is longing for is glimpsed, and embraced, it seems, when we linger in sacred space – wherever that is found.

Isaiah seemed to understand this when he wrote these words:
“We’re content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you’ve done are all we’ll ever want. Through the night my soul longs for you. Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you” Isaiah 26:7 The Message

Lingering, obedience, sacred space, hearing the voice of Love: all ingredients to experiencing and knowing the Almighty who is pursuing real personal relationships.