If there is anything we can agree on, we are all busy! Between work, family, church and our interests, there is very little time for anything else. Yet, we are told to follow Jesus’ example and pull away from the craziness and find solitude in God. In her book Quite Places , Jane Rubietta writes “the only antidote I have found to busyness is solitude. The purpose of retreat is not to check off a list of Scriptures read, quotes studied, or prayers said. It is an escape into the calm arms of God. And because busyness sedates the underlying reality, when we hurtle through life’s revolving doors into a personal retreat time, we may feel confused, uncomfortable, awkward via the lack of agenda, the aloneness, the “not doing”. The desert mothers and fathers forsook the busyness, the meaninglessness and materialism of the world, exchanging it for a world of solitude, contemplation, intercession. They shed the mask of self-importance and entered the desert. There they found an oasis of refreshment, food for soul and spirit.” Even though it can be awkward, the reward is refreshing. Psalm 62:5-7 says: “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my home comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my might rock, my refuge.” So, even in your busyness, find time to pull away with God. It may be only five minutes or it might be a whole day. Let God be the fortress where you can lay your weary head.
Here’s a question where you can join in in the conversation: How do you feel about setting up a personal retreat day? What would that look like for you? And as Daniel always says – To GOD be the Glory!