It had been one long day as I pulled my car into the garage. The kids jumped out like jackrabbits and sprinted into the house. Through the door, I watched their shoes fling this way and that. I saw a pile of unzipped backpacks and soggy lunch boxes form as their shadows escaped down the hallway toward the living room. Through it all, I just sat there. Alone. Still behind the wheel of the car.
Do you ever need a minute?
You know what I mean—a short break, a quick breath, a pause from life and its many struggles. That pause is like a buffer for a mother’s sanity, right? Like that extra space, which used to exist between those long sentences before life got so busy the ‘powers that be’ decided to take it out.
If you need a minute today, let me reassure and remind you of this truth. Jesus needed a break sometimes too. On many occasions, He rose and “went out to a desolate place” (Mark 1:35). He “went up on the mountain by himself” (Matthew 14:23). He went in the morning. He went in the evening.
He went because He needed to get away.
If Jesus (God in the flesh) needed moments away from the crowds for quiet and consolation and prayer, surely, we can accept our own need for these moments in our lives too. After all, this is what abiding is all about. It’s about coming back, about washing our hands once more, clean up to our elbows, in warm soapy dishwaters of grace.
A quiet time in the morning always does good for the soul, but quiet minutes throughout the day are equally important to reconnect and persevere. Jesus understood this, which is why He gave Himself space for spiritual respite.
Perhaps He’s calling you to do the same, too.
