As my wife and I prepare to take our first born to college this week, we have that oft-asked question before us:  Where does the time go?  Eighteen years - whoosh.  Gone.  Did I spend it well?  One of my favorite books of the past year has been James Bryan Smith’s The Good and Beautiful God.  In that book, he talks about how we spend our time.  We are so busy – so hurried – that we often have no idea where our time goes.  In an average lifetime, we will spend

-         six months sitting at traffic lights

-         eight months opening junk mail

-         one year searching through desk clutter

-         two years trying to call people who are not in

-         three years in meetings (this MUST be low for Presbyterians)

-         five years waiting in lines

It makes you think, doesn’t it?  How are we spending out time?  In Mark 1:35, we find the model of Jesus.  Mark writes, “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.”  We find Jesus doing this over and over again.  Let’s not forget:  Jesus was a busy man.  He was in demand.  People were clamoring to see Him, and yet solitude – being alone and quiet before God– was a regular practice in his daily life.  It was, I believe, the place from which He drew strength in order to endure the challenges that He faced. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Life Together, “One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.”  As disciples of Jesus Christ, we need both.  Yes, we need fellowship.  We need others, but we also need solitude.  Without it, how will we ever hear the voice of God against the constant din and chatter of our world?  We can’t.  

Here’s the thing: If it was central to Jesus’ life and ministry, it seems to me that we would be well-served to make it central to ours as well.   You don't have to do anything grand.  Start small.  Fifteen minutes.  Slow down.  Stop talking.  Turn off your phone.  Be quiet.  Listen.  You might just find that God has been talking all along.