“I was in my front yard the other day,” Stan began, “and one of the neighborhood children came by. We were talking and she said something like, ‘Mr. Stan, do you know that God looks like a vacuum cleaner?’”
“How did you respond to that?” I asked.
“I smiled and asked her why she thought that,” San replied. “She said something to the effect that her daddy told her that he had something inside of him that looked like a vacuum cleaner and that it was God.”
Continuing, he said, “I thought I knew what she meant and I am always touched by the sweet innocence of children. Very special! I told her that each one of us, does indeed, have an emptiness within us that can only be satisfied by being filled with God, and that it is not really a vacuum cleaner, just an empty hole, which is another word for vacuum.”
“What did she say to that?” I asked.
“She said that is what her daddy told her. She then said, ‘Bye,’ and skipped away.”
“Is this ‘God-shaped vacuum’ what Pascal was talking about?” I asked.
“As it seems with just about everything,” Stan replied, “there is always disagreement. Some say Pascal said that, others say he didn’t, but, to me, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I know as an absolute fact that I had, and sometimes still have, an emptiness that I could not and cannot satisfy with anything but God.”
Continuing, he said, “Oh, I tried to fill that void with all sorts of things from the world, the flesh, and the devil, but it didn’t work. The only thing that could fill that emptiness was God.”
“And it is the same today. Whenever I feel empty,” Stan concluded, “I know what I need. The problem for me is that too often I fail to act on what I know. I fail to ask to be filled to overflowing with the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. When I ask, I receive. And when I receive, the emptiness is gone, vacuumed up!”
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Be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that you provide all I need to fill the emptiness that can exist in me apart from you. Thank you for removing from me the desire to be filled with anything other than what you have for me. Thank you for giving me your presence in the form of your Holy Spirit. I confess that too often I am filled with emptiness rather than with all you have for me. I need and I ask for your help in my following your lead in being filled, not just to the brim, but to overflowing! Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Waiting for the Train 