What do you do after a whole evening spent healing a town's populace? If you’re Jesus, you try to get out of Dodge, at least for a little while: In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
I would probably just sleep in – but there are better ways to nurture your spirit, and Jesus led the way. After an intense period of spiritual output, or sometimes after hearing bad news, he often sought to go apart, either by himself, or with some or all of the Twelve. These mini-retreats were often interrupted, but that didn’t stop him from going.
When we just give and give without taking the time to recharge our spiritual batteries, to reconnect with the One whose life we are sharing with the world, we soon find ourselves with little to offer, tiring more quickly, becoming easily irritated. Jesus models the value of time set apart for prayer, no matter how long it is. He knows he has another busy day of ministry ahead, so he gets up while it’s still dark to grab some alone time with his heavenly Father. That’s what prayer is – a time of conversation with God, and we don’t need five days away to do that.
I am lousy at the spiritual practice of retreat, at least in its multi-day form. I used to go regularly on retreat to convents or monasteries, but not in recent years. Maybe it’s easier to think about retreats in smaller chunks. In a previous church I used to offer a monthly half-day retreat, Spa for the Spirit, which I’m thinking of reviving online. Even four hours off the treadmill of our lives can be surprisingly renewing and refreshing.
How about building an hour of retreat into your week? Choose a day when you’re not too busy, and a spot where you can be alone and quiet. Make a date with yourself and with God, and show up. Light a candle. Read a little Scripture and chew on it inwardly. Read a spiritual book. Talk to God about what’s on your mind. Try to get centered and silent and hear what God might be saying back. Write in a journal about what happens as you pray, what your hopes and intentions for the next week might be. Our spirits can get some deep nurture in a time apart like that.
We can even go with smaller increments. Just as they’re finding that exercise can be valuable even in 7-minute increments, so can stepping into “God-space” for a few minutes once a day or more. I know people who set alerts on their computers or phones to cue them to go into quiet for a set period of time.
I don’t suggest these shorter times as a replacement for intentional, multi-day retreats. Retreat is one of the most rewarding spiritual practices in our Christian tradition, and there are things that we can only hear and receive when we’ve stepped out of our regular lives for several days. It takes time for our spirits to rest, for us get in touch with what’s going on deep down, to become receptive to a deeper connection with the Holy Spirit. I always gain invaluable insights on retreat.
When we follow Jesus into the places apart, we can be pretty sure he’ll meet us there with his peace. And we will be refreshed.
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