3 - Wilderness
Jesus was prompted by the Holy Spirit to go out into the wilderness. I feel prompted to do the same. We leave this week for our trip to Italy, and a few days after we arrive, we hit the Alta Via del Granito. As I begin this week, I am preparing my heart and soul for this solitude. My devotional this week started out with this prayer which was so appropriate:
“Shine a light, illuminating Spirit, in the shadows of my thinking as I spend this time with You. May my words, thoughts and feelings rise up like incense before You, Lord of all things. Take me and make me a living temple, a place of praise, a house of prayer for the nations.” (Lectio365, September 5, 2023)
I will add, “Yes Lord, as I enter these next two weeks, I begin to mentally shed the layers of obligation, work, commitments, and human interaction and prepare to spend some time with You alone. I purposely step out of this space where I am tied to my phone, my computer, my constant activity and make a decision to slow down, to ponder You, Your presence, Your creation, to put myself in a place of being able to be in awe again. I pare away all the encumbrances of daily life for this little season and see what You will show me there.”
I was thinking about Jesus in the wilderness, he did not have any form of communication whatsoever, no human interaction, no agenda, not even provisions for the 40 days He would spend there. He did not seem to feel any obligations of any kind other than to just go, even though He knew He only had 3 short years to share the world-changing message of the gospel. To be the gospel. If He did not feel bad about giving up over a month of time to be alone with God, neither should I. As a matter of fact, I should be running towards the opportunity to be alone with God like this more often. I am fighting, literally contending like a boxer to keep my anxious thoughts at bay about work, things that need to get done, and feelings of “I ought to.” They creep in at every nano-space in between the holy longings of wanting to be with God.
But I am so excited to go on vacation with God! That’s what it feels like.
Recently starting each day with lots of stretching and planking.