YOU TAKE UP SPACE

recently had to call up some airlines to find out their baggage weight limit. good news and bad news. man, i really gotta make sure the cubic meters my suitcases take up don't exceed the given limit. it involves money, which, of course, matters. especially when the currency is in US dollars.

space. luggage takes up space. stuff takes up space in luggages. and space, in the airline business, costs money. we're talkin height x length x width. 2 pieces of luggage, no more than 50lbs each, and no bigger than 62 linear inches- something like that. of course i know this is all very necessary for airlines, don't get me wrong.

last week i was watching E! (yes, i watch TV sometimes) when this interview with a-certain-artist came on askin her abt her new album with two other artists. "so what was it like working on this album with these guys?" she said, "i'm not used to sharing diva space...but for this album i had to get used to it...sharing the space with them..."

so? got me wondering abt SPACE...

met an old friend at starbucks for a cuppa, just to catch up before i leave kk. was halfway through my updates when he said out-of-the-blue, "you know, you take up a lotta space." i blinked and after 2 seconds, laughed. "what?! what space?" my mind goes, "what, like i'm fat or something?" according to him, he meant that there are people you meet in life who are not so intense, not so in-your-face, like "you know how some people can enter a room and you don't notice them?" uh huh...so i'm not that kind. "oh, sounds like a good thing. thanks. you take up a lot of space, too."

it got me thinking --- abt taking up space. i don't mean taking up diva space, though, and not being willing to share that space with others. the way we live. the way we cross paths with people. the way we sometimes intrude each other's space, in a good way, so that nobody stays in their space for too long without change or growth. otherwise he/she gets stuffy and rigid and aloof and enclosed. if you've ever watched Stranger Than Fiction, man, that's such a cool movie! it's good to share your space! shift around spaces, move space from time to time...swap spaces. you know, don't be thin air - going thru life just breathing, merely staying alive. you, being a person whose very presence should speak loudly, that you can't be ignored, shut up, stifled, muffled...when you got things to stand up for, things to say, to speak up about, to shout about! it's good to be taking up a lotta space :) just, be a LOUD 'BE'-ing. whether or not you open your mouth, who you are and what you contain can't be ignored, 'cause you take up so much space.

in this perspective, i'd say - we should take up space!

a lot of SPACE is lost when we are apathetic and lifeless. or rather, fight-less. we don't contend when enemies crowd around us and steal our space. gain our ground, take up our territory. "oh, you want that space? sure! why not." and little by little, we become colonised and we wonder why we feel restricted and without 'freedom'. weed taking over the land, overpowering the plants that were originally meant to take up the entire space and dominate it in the first place. excuse me, is this space reserved? yes, it is.
excuse me, is this soul taken? yes, it is.
excuse me, is this heart available? no, it's for Jesus. (no sorrys needed)
excuse me, is your life for the taking? yeah, but it's taken already.

Jesus takes up a lotta space. and i'm glad He does. that leaves no room for things that should not seep in or steal space.
i'm done ranting...