The night before last, I took an exotic holiday. It wasn't a very long
holiday, but I enjoyed it none the less. How can you have an exotic holiday
in one evening? Here's how I did it.
It was one of those rare nights when Kathy and I had no place we had to
be and there wasn't anything that absolutely needed to be done (there are
always things that need to be done, but there wasn't anything that couldn't
wait a day). I turned the computer off, left the stereo and TV off and we
decided that we were simply unavailable. The telephone answering machine
could take the calls and unless the message indicated a real emergency, we
would return the calls the next morning.
I can't remember the last time I took a holiday like that, in fact, to
be honest I'm not sure that I ever have. It was hard not to jump up the first
couple of times the telephone rang. A couple of times I went into email
withdrawal, but after about an hour I think I finally began to relax. My
brain and body simply weren't sure what to do about the lack of input and
externally generated stimulation.
Kathy and I just talked together, prayed and simply spent sometime
enjoying the silence together. It was a real blessing. We don't spend nearly
enough time just enjoying each other's company without worrying about the
outside intruding.
I recognized that we're often that way with God. It isn't that we don't
want to spend time with Him, it's that other things have intruded so long
that we respond to them on autopilot. We're praying or reading and the phone
rings so we put God on hold. We're having some quiet time, but our favorite
show comes on the tube and we watch it without thinking. It truly is a
blessing that He is so patient with His children.
A lack of interruptions is why I generally have my quiet time first
thing in the morning before anyone else gets up. The phone doesn't ring, the
TV and stereo aren't on and it's just God and I. I tried during the day and
found it to hard to stay focused. I tried bedtime but I couldn't stay awake.
In my marriage, if I don't spend time with Kathy, we can feel distant.
In our relationship with God, if we don't spend time together, God can feel
distant.
Jesus took quiet time with his disciples. They took time to be alone
together away from the crowds that pressed in on them constantly.
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported
to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were
coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to
them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So
they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. Mark
6:30-32 NIV
King David talks about being led by God to a still and quiet place for
the restoration of his soul.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads
me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
