I used to work in telemarketing. True confession. The company had over 2,000 seats—telemarketing stations—and our mantra was "Your call means the world to us.” It really was a fun job, though some of you will probably be tempted to call me during dinner soon. Payback. There would be justice in that, but before you pick up that handset, think about playing the mercy card instead.
A key measure of success in telemarketing is “occupancy.” Just like the airline business, as I'm sure you've noticed. You've got this investment in capacity [seats] and you want it occupied—generating income—as much as possible. More is better, at least in that business model.
I've had occupancy on my mind lately, but in a different context. I've been conscious of the occupancy of my person. Occupancy within the skin, so to speak. What occupies my mind? What's on my heart? Where are those internal moments invested?
Pastor Tom has made the point more than once that our idols become most visible in our idles—moments, that is. When your mind is a blank, what rushes in to fill that vacuum? If it's that new gigunda plasma screen, or the image that popped on your computer screen earlier today, or the still-hot anger of a recent slight, then you've got a good sense of what your little idol factory is churning out these days.
In one of his many articles[1], Henry Nouwen makes the point that, in the spiritual life, discipline means "the effort to create some space in which God can act." An interesting thought. Occupancy for the disciple should include a regular diet of un-occupancy. A turning from the things of this world, the creation of space that the Holy Spirit will fill.
Where are the opportunities to reduce the clutter of the urgent, the demanding and the enjoyable from my own space? Have I created that space to camp out in? I'm a man who tends to mistake activity for impact. Some of the disciplines of the disciple—the creation of space, the pursuit of silence, the resting in the Word—are not disciplines that I easily gravitate towards.
In that same article I referenced above, Nouwen remarks that discipleship and discipline are the same words. Ergo, as a disciple I need to be more disciplined in my pursuit of vacancy, confident that God will fill those spaces with his intent.
Chris Joyce
[1] “Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry;” Henri Nouwen.
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