Service and Solitude

This holiday season it is so easy to let busyness consume us. A party here, a party there, white elephant gift exchanges, buying gifts, baking, Secret Santa, classroom parties, and the list goes on. Sometimes even very very good things consume us such as serving the needy and poor.

This week I've been pondering the necessity for solitude and being still. God's word says in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God". Jesus also modeled for us on several occasions in the height of His ministry, in the midst of serving and healing so many people by pulling away to a place to be alone. Luke 5:16 "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray."

I hear many people say that they feel disconnected from God, and many will blame this on their church's worship experience. The question has to be, "Are you personally taking time to be alone and spend time in Bible reading and prayer?" If that is not happening there will not be intimacy and connection with God. It is the key.

I think about the birth of Jesus and how so much of it was wrapped up in solitude and stillness. When the angel came to Mary to tell her she would give birth to our Savior she was still---had she have been bustling around in the mall shopping would she have even noticed the angel was trying to speak to her? Scripture says that "she pondered these things in her heart.." (Luke 2:19) Then I think of the long journey Joseph and Mary took to Bethlehem. Much time for pondering I'm sure. Much time for the Lord to speak to them, to reassure them of His presence and the ministry that would lie ahead for both of them as parents of the long awaited Messiah. The same goes for the wisemen and shepherds in their travelling to see what lay beneath the star in the sky.

It is so important that we take time this holiday season to do the same: to withdraw from the crowds and busyness and let the One we celebrate give us the greatest gift of all---His personal Presence that is now available to us because of the birth and death of Jesus. And then, from within that time of intimacy and refreshing we can allow God to propel us out into the world to be His hands and feet to others this Christmas.

"Solitude is not simply a withdraw from the world to be renewed and refreshed. It is also finding a new center of inner quietness and certitude from which we act in the midst of a busy and demanding world....Rather, the movement to solitude is to find a renewed self, and from the center of being loved and nourished we can again enter our world with purposeful engagement." Henri Nouwen