As a young mom with three kids under five and a husband who was routinely deployed, moving furniture was an issue. Wherever the couch was in the living room when he left is where the couch was going to be when he returned home. There was no energy to spare on moving furniture.
One year, the military sent him away and while he was gone, our name came up on the waiting list for military housing. We’d been waiting almost a year for available housing and we had to accept the Navy housing within a short period of time or be put at the bottom of the wait list. So, I accepted the assignment.
But, now what? There was no way I could move the entire family and all of our possessions by myself. Fortunately, a group of friends banded together to get our little family moved. I could not have done it alone.
What does moving furniture have to do with the spiritual life?
The Sacred Center
The essence of who we are resides in our heart, mind, and soul. This is where our emotions, intellect, and faith (or will) dwell. Theologian Henri Nouwen calls this our “sacred center”, the space where God is meant to dwell in us, with us, and through us.
Much like decluttering a house and rearranging the furniture, the sacred center of our soul must be cleared of everything in our lives that takes up space meant for God to dwell. We are masters of distraction, filling every inch of heart, mind, and soul with overwhelming to-do lists and calendars, new hobbies, more work, TV shows and other entertainment, life goals, and relationships.
Our spiritual lives become like a house that is overflowing with years of accumulated possessions and clutter to the point where there’s hardly any space for a visitor to stand, much less making themselves at home. At the same time, we avoid inviting anyone in to get a closer look because we are embarrassed by the state of our living conditions. Our spiritual selves have no space for God.
If our sacred center is intended to be a place for God to dwell, like a tabernacle, how do we clear out that space so there is a sacred space for God?
Three Disciplines of Jesus
In the Gospels, we can see a pattern within the earthly life of Jesus. Amidst constant travel, pressing crowds, long hours of healing and teaching, Jesus made routine time to get alone and pray. These alone times with God in prayer, were usually followed by teaching his disciples and then ministering to people in the surrounding towns and villages.
The order of this discipline is specific and important.
Solitude.
Community.
Care.
Luke 6 can be read at this link:
Solitude.
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. Lk 6:12
Community.
When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles Lk 6:13.
Care.
(The crowd) who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus often went off to pray alone in solitude (Lk 5:15-16). The ministry of Jesus began by praying alone in the wilderness for forty days and ended by solitary prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before the crucifixion. Jesus prayed alone after hearing of the death of John the Baptist, before the Sermon on the Mount, before walking on water, before feeding the 4,000. Jesus lived a life that at all times created a sacred space for God.
Creating a Sacred Center
Just as I cannot move furniture alone, we cannot create a sacred space in our hearts alone. It’s not a matter of trying harder, doing better, or attempting to be more spiritual. Creating a sacred center, a place for God to dwell in us and us in Him, starts by sitting alone in His presence.
The power and presence of God fills us with His heart and love, His thoughts and desires, and His power to do His work. When we submit to the Spirit, the Spirit removes from the center of ourselves the clutter and excess that we cannot get rid of by ourselves. When this work is done in us, the Spirit has then created more space for God to dwell.
From the presence of God flows the power and love of God. We can then find community in the brethren. With the community of brethren, we go out and minister to the world taking our sacred center, the Temple of God, with us.
Nothing eternal happens apart from the power and presence of God. Solitude is the discipline of doing nothing in order to create a sacred space for God to dwell. When God becomes the sacred center of our heart, mind, and soul, His power and presence spills out into the world.
“Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Phil 2: 12-13.
Gospel accounts of Jesus praying alone:
Matthew 14:13, 14:23
Mark 1:12, 35; 3:13; 6:31-32; 14:32; 15:29
Luke 5:15-16; 6:12
For further reading:
Finding Our Sacred Center: a Journey to Inner Peace by Henri Nouwen.
Copyright @ TA Boland 2025
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