Our small wire-haired dachshund managed to get into one of the big bags of dog food which we keep in an outhouse. When we found her, she’d been there for some time, and her small tummy was hard, tight and barrel-shaped. She looked guilty but, oddly enough, quite pleased to see us. She’d clearly had enough, but she couldn’t get out of the bag.

 

Life is a bit like that. One can have enough, or too much, of a good thing. When this happens the good thing becomes a burden. Comfortable life-styles, or any life style which lacks a spiritual dimension, can become oppressive and heavy, like a room which needs to have a window opened.

 

The way to open a window in a life where much is going on, but which also feels oppressive, is to begin by sitting still for five minutes. Our lives our driven by the need to keep busy. Allow the Holy Spirit of God, the ‘pneuma’, or breeze, into the ‘inner room’, which is the mind and heart, the place where our deepest longings and darkest fears are lodged. Just sit, be still. Be open to God’s presence and allow his freshening Spirit to do whatever is needed to lighten the day.