“Do you hear it, Sarah? Do you hear it? Listen to the words of love that are breathed and spun into the air.

Let them sink into your bones.”

How often do we take the time to just really listen? Not enough.

I heard those words, and surrounded by people, I tried to take it all in. I listened to the love tumbling out of their mouths, singing praises through the roof, up to the heavens. My eyes closed, and almost embarrassed at the intimacy I caught both myself and them in, I just listened.

It wasn’t enough. It’s never enough. The lion roars, and duty calls, and we must be on guard. The world’s not a safe place, and intimacy must not be displayed. A jaded heart is better than an exposed one, at least that’s what the voices on the radio tell me.

Society says success is a busy schedule. Meetings and visions, phone calls and neglected gym memberships. Peers say it’s a number of followers on Instagram or a “you look gooood!” Monday. It’s a too-crazy-to-remember Friday night or a diamond ring.

But when was the last time you took time and space? When was the last time you discarded all of that and just acknowledged your breath?

Time and space.

I’m learning a lot about those two things lately. We don’t make much room for it; we’re too busy formulating plans and often look down on others who aren’t.

But I’ve been running for so long, pressured by the way my culture does this thing called life, that I’ve burnt myself out. And I’ve come to realize that I don’t actually know who I am.

Time and space. It’s time for time and space. Twenty-four years of a lot of baggage that I’ve yet to really let go of. Traveling with all this extra stuff is unnecessary.

It’s funny, really, how we run like this when so much of the world doesn’t. Actually, they sit in the shade of the giant trees in Africa, and squat in the dirt in Asia. They sing and dance and stand in doorways and just watch. Listen. Live.

I wonder how likely it is for the rest of the world to carry an agenda or wear a watch. Ruled by such things.

Do you hear it? Are you listening? Is it necessary for you to take time and space?

Do you just need to stand in your doorway and watch?

“Even the wildest dreams have to start somewhere. Allow yourself the time and space to let your mind wander and your imagination fly.” –Oprah Winfrey