The Empty Seat

For anyone who has ever stood on a stage, you know this.

It’s not the number of people in the room.
It’s the number of empty seats.

I’ve felt it myself.
A small room packed with a hundred people hums with life.
But take a thousand and spread them through a hall built for five thousand,
and the air changes.
The sound echoes, but the energy fades.
The room feels hollow.

An empty seat changes everything.

Life works the same way.
It’s not always about what’s here.
Sometimes it’s about what’s missing.

We notice the empty chair at the dinner table.
We feel the space left by the one who isn’t there.
We sense the silence where a voice once was.

Absence has a way of teaching us.
It sharpens our hearts.
It reminds us what matters most.

Jesus once told a story about a banquet.
The tables were set, but too many chairs sat empty.
So the master sent his servants into the streets, inviting anyone who would come. (Luke 14:23)
He couldn’t bear the thought of a room half full.

Neither can He today.

Where I see what’s missing, He sees what’s possible.
Where I feel the absence, He’s already preparing the invitation.

And maybe that’s my part too.
To honor the present.
To remember the absence.
And to help fill the seats around me.

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