Alone, Not Lonely

Luke 5:16…But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

Quiet time on the river this morning. It’s my first post-triple-bypass-kayak attack. Did just fine. Arms are strong, the heart beats fast, but I’m not winded like I used to be. It’s truly a good day to be alive. Alone. Apart.

And Aware of His presence.

The river is still, with hardly a ripple. I can smell the muddy decay of recent rains and wet earth. The water, though murky with sediment, is still cool and worth dipping a cloth in to wipe my neck. With a couple silent strokes of my paddle, I propel my vessel forward and then rest, content in watching the fallen leaves slowly float past me.

I can hear the cicadas announce that it’ll be a warm and sunny day and the crickets are still singing, not yet finished from their night song.

And… for the first time in forever, I’m not surrounded by human noise. No chatter, no yelling, no laughter… not even mentally. I am in a place of stillness and I’ve completely disengaged from my human world.

And it’s good medicine… this solitude.

Jesus, Himself, seemed to seek times away from humanity and responsibility, when He could just touch base with Dad… just listen to the Father speak… just let His heart be stilled.

Solitude isn’t the same as loneliness. It’s not even the same as isolation… or rejection… or being alone. Solitude is a “fasting” of sorts, wherein we deny ourselves the business of the world, the noise and babble of notions and thoughts and distractions that drown out the voice of God.

Solitude is where we come to grips with who we are and who God is… and since who we are are creatures to be loved… and who God is is the active source of that love…. Solitude leads to being saturated with the only element in the universe of any value.

Love.

Now… if I could just bottle this and take it back into the world of people….