My Place

For years now I have been going to the same stony beach for a bit of personal head-space, quiet time and to just ‘be’ with God. It is an effort to get there – a thirty-minute drive each way and the weather isn’t always nice, but it is ‘my place’ and I never regret going.

I was thinking about this recently and wondering why I feel the need to go to the same place. Why can’t I just take the same time in my bedroom with the door closed, or sit in the garden, or even go to a nicer, sandy beach?  But there is just something about this stony, rugged beach that has claimed my heart.

When I read this verse, I felt somewhat comforted that Jesus also had to make deliberate efforts to go away, be alone, and give time and space for God to speak to Him. I found myself wondering if He had ‘His place’ that He went to when He needed that time alone.  I like to think so.  Of course, Jesus was in communion with His Father all the time, as we should be too. But He also had to have these deliberate times, set apart from everything else.

I think there is something extremely precious in the deliberate effort to go and make space and time to be with God, to be in a place where we know we won’t be disturbed, distracted by jobs, and where we can turn phones off and just ‘be’. I used to see taking this time as a luxury, selfish or indulgent. But now I see it as a necessity, a solid investment of that most precious resource of life - time.

Just as Jesus had to deliberately make time to go away, find a place of isolation and be with His Father, so do we. In fact, I think we need it much more than Jesus did. It isn’t indulgent or selfish. It is an absolute necessity for our relationship with God.

Maybe you are reading this thinking of a place that could be ‘your place’. Maybe you need to sit with your diary and plan ahead to set a few hours aside. Maybe you need to set your alarm clock early one day. It takes a deliberate act of effort to set time aside, but it is always worth it.