Living - Inside or Outside

Friends of ours (a family) were sharing on Sunday about their trip last summer. In sort, they traveled to the East Coast of the United States from the West Coast and back. They shared how the experienced challenged them to live more fully into ideal notions, how the experience(s) now shape how they see the world around themselves, the ways the trip has inspired them, and how the trip spoke to them indivdually and as a family. It was a great presentation, even though it is limited (due to time, etc. They figured they only showed about 3% of their photos, for example).

During a part of their presentation, they shared the physical dimensions of their RV Trailer by using string and they children to give it shape. Then they used some other string to show how much "floor space" they had. It was a great demonstration that the kids (and I think the adults) could quickly grasp. One of the comments has struck with me, however.

During this process, it was commented "This is the amount of space we lived in."

On the way home, I asked our family if they felt that they lived in a small space. The comments were, "Only when it is pouring rain outside", "Sometimes it feels that way," ... But it seemed like we were in agreement that we don't live "inside" so much as "outside" in the world around us. It continued to be a conversation piece for us. By nightfall, we had decided that the space inside our boat is like one room (OK, so the Head might be another, and one could call the V-berth and quarter-berth other rooms, I suppose) in a very large house, a house in which the sky is the roof, and the sea and shore our floor. In fact, we have often felt that the marina environment is much like a hotel or apartment complex. In an apartment, everyone has their apartment (boat) but meets each other in the hallways or common places (docks or entry way).

We have just finished house/cat-sitting for some friends of ours. We all found the comparison between house and boat life interesting. In the house, we seldom ventured outside unless we were to go someplace. The only exception being playing hoops in the driveway. When we were at the house, I would say that we lived "inside." While on the boat, I would say we live more "outside."

The above discussion reminded me of a questioning conversation: do our bodies hold our souls or do our souls hold our bodies? Which is "outside" and which is "inside", and how does that make a difference in what we experience?

Blessed Be in the midst of Lentan pondering.

Joel