We all know the healing power of wide open spaces. It is why we are drawn to sit near the ocean, hike to the top of a mountain, or find a quiet dark place to contemplate a stary night. In these wide open exterior spaces, we find our interior world shifting from the constrictive concerns of the problems and demands that fill our days to the wonder and mystery of things we do not control or understand. It is fascinating to me that when we allow wide open spaces to carry us away from ourselves, we do not feel lost but found. We feel smaller in the world and so do our anxieties, worries, and problems.
Spiritual writers note that one of the oldest meanings of salvation is to be brought into an open space where enemies cannot surprise or trap us.
He rescued me from my mighty enemy,
from foes too powerful for me.
They attacked me on my day of distress,
but the Lord was my support.
He set me free in the open;
he rescued me, because he loves me.
Psalm 18:18-20
I am fortunate that most of the enemies I face are internal. Like many, I lose perspective through overthinking. When someone says or does something small that hurts my feelings or touches my insecurity, I find myself in an emotional storm that though temporary, feels permanent. I circle through the same thoughts and feelings over and over again allowing anxieties born from insecurity to color my entire world, making small problems seem big, and trapping me in negative thinking about myself and about others. For me, a good long walk saves me when I find myself surrounded by internal enemies.
One of my walking paths takes me on a two and a half mile loop from my house around the local high school, through town and back to my house. I try not to spend my walk thinking about the emotions or problems that have been stirred in me. I try to use the walk to let go. Despite my intentions, however, during the first leg of my journey I don’t find the freedom I seek. The preoccupations of my mind allow me only quick, tight glimpses of the sky, the trees, the flowers, and the small animals I see on my way. I miss many wonders as thoughts turn over and over in my mind just as they have the rest of the day.
Without fail there is a turning point in my walk. When I walk up the roadway to the high school the view opens up. The high school is set in the midst of beautiful wide open fields. The sky is bigger, the sun brighter, it is quiet, spacious, and open. Though I am very familiar with this view, it always brings with it a shift in my interior world. My racing thoughts finally quiet down and I become aware of an open space within. That open space invites me to think in new ways. My thoughts turn to wonder and to the creator of this beautiful world. I am reminded of how little I really know about other people, the world, myself, and God. I shift from holding on and controlling, to listening and receiving. I don’t reach a new understanding of the problems that have plagued me throughout the day, I simply let them go. I find an interior silence that welcomes me and lets me rest.
The Fred Rogers archive at Saint Vincent college has one of Rogers handwritten prayers. In the prayer, he asks God to help us to remember times
when a glimpse of the Eternal was so close that we were given a new perspective that surprised not only us but those around us.
Fred Rogers
Salvation comes to us over and over again as we glimpse eternity in the wide open spaces that help us to find the interior spaciousness where God invites us to rest. There are many paths to that interior spaciousness, many ways to catch a glimpse of eternity. We find our way there through prayer, scripture reading, contemplation, walking meditation, exercise, reading, creativity, music, art, gardening, and in countless other ways . It is in wide open spaces that we learn to let go of the narrow, constricted paths that keep us trapped in negative thinking and allow the wideness of God’s mercy to set us free.
