What the snoop would say

Sam Gosling wrote a book last year on what a person’s living space says about their personality. The book is call “Snoop.” Without giving a review of the work, I’ll take an interesting aspect from the book and sleep on it.

I slept, and when I woke this is what came to mind.

The idea is that we have two spaces in our home, the public space and the private. In the typical American home, there is the bedroom and the living room, the former being private and the latter being public. Do a quick run through of each space in your home, think about what’s on the walls, which books you have in each space, what kinds of things you keep in each space, and think about your spiritual life. What do you see?

My bedroom has nearly all clues to me being religious at all. One wall is covered with icons, handwritten prayers and Scripture passages, and other objects of devotion that inspire a rich inner life. If you step outside my room, there are far fewer clues. From the way I set up my living space, I am fairly private with much of my spirituality.

How about the inverse of that? Imagine a bedroom with almost no signs of devotion or religiosity, but in the living room there are oodles of paintings, crosses on the walls, bibles with gold ribbons laced through them, etc. Many of us have been in homes like this, but do you ever wonder if it’s the same in the private places of that home? What does it say about a person that has a spirituality that is exclusively public?

It’s easy to criticize both, their flaws are glaring, but think about this: if you had to have your spiritual life in either your public space or your private space, with no sign in the other, which would you choose? Why is that, and what does it say about your life with God?

I don’t think the answer is balance.