Augustine confessed, “the house of my soul is too narrow for thee to come in to me; let it be enlarged by thee. It is in ruins; do thou restore it” (Chapter V:6). Augustine intimates that it is not merely a slim doorway, but a narrow space in which to live.
In contrast we find Jesus is the gate through whom we enter; we come in and go out, and find open expanse.
Today’s prayer comes from contemplating this, and remembering a dream I had in conversation with God: I saw an underground cavern through which a subterranean river flowed. I complained, “but God, the water is eating away at the walls of the cavern. Eventually it will all cave in, and there’ll be nothing left of me!”
The odd thing about a dream like this is how a thousand things are said but not spoken. The Lord said, “that’s right; it will all cave in, and you will be the river, but you will not be forgotten. I am not erasing you, I am making you one with my Son. And you will be joy.”
If you are aware of your narrowness of soul – if you are ready to be enlarged by His presence and integrated into His river of life, then may you joyfully enter into this prayer:
Enlarge the Cavern
Enlarge the cavern of my heart
Into which You desire to pour Yourself.No Lord! I protest,
I’m afraid the chamber will cave in!And perhaps this is Your very desire:
To erode the vault encasing who I am –
the shell I’ve used to define me.Your Spirit like flowing water wears that lifeless rock away
To enlarge the void into which You spill Yourself,
And erode something un-definable about me.So, expand the hollow and increase Your expanse!
Impoverish me of my threadbare fabric –
Exchange it for a wider wonder world
And pour more of Yourself in me.
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