Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Making Room

A few years ago an article in the New Yorker magazine reported that the space requirement of a New York subway car was 2.3 square feet per person, standing or sitting.

In normal living, though, we certainly need more space than that. We need space to lie down, walk around, stretch out, run, play sports, even just go for a walk. We need space if we are to be physically, mentally, emotionally, even spiritually fit.

Perhaps that’s why it makes sense that the Hebrew word often translated as “salvation” is related to the concept of room. Though some English Bibles have Psalm 4 read, “When I was in distress, you saved me,” the same verse can just as well be rendered, “When I was in a tight spot, you gave me room.”

You might want to ask yourself in what ways you may be feeling trapped. Maybe it’s thinking about the past that keeps you hemmed in. Maybe it’s fear of the future. Maybe it’s worry about a loved one that seems to take up every waking moment and makes it impossible to think about anything else.

Maybe you can change things so you don’t feel so trapped, but maybe you need God to give you the space and freedom you can’t give yourself. But could it be that one way to have more room in your own life is to let others have more room in theirs?