To Pull Away

As you who are part of my world know, life has been hectic and somewhat tough here recently. The great part is that I love my hectic life. The tough part has been that my hectic life allows little room for me to take a breath when needed, to grieve when something or someone is loss, to find clarity when chaos abounds. If we're all completely honest, we have found ourselves in those situations far too often. When we do, we often tell ourselves to just push through, to occupy our minds even more, and then, after an even greater depletion of what is inside leads to exhaustion, we will be okay.

Sound familiar to you? We live in such a fast-paced world. I remember when I was younger, there seemed to be more time for a cookout, to sit out on the porch and stare off in the distance, to enjoy a movie, or to simply relax. With the ever-increasing demands of life, we are run so much that we allow decades to pass without realizing that we never stopped to live. What a dangerous time we live in, don't you think?

I have long thought my job was to outwork everyone else, to keep going even when everything inside said to stop. This week, it all changed. A day that was scheduled from the morning through the late evening was changed to a day where I could go play golf with my uncle and cousin. What seemed to have to be done on Friday is no longer on the schedule, as Friday will be a day when I pull away. No cell phone. No internet other than a few postings on social media. No email. I have to get myself taken care of before I can possibly take care of someone else.

I was reading recently about a time when Jesus pulled away in Luke 6. The preceding verses revealed a couple of altercations with the Pharisees, once over what the disciples were doing on the Sabbath and then, a disagreement with Pharisees because Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Then, in verse 12, Luke noted, "During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God." (Luke 6:12 HCSB) He took time to remove Himself from what was going on to connect with the Father. Jesus needed that time and as I once heard a friend say, "If Jesus needed time to connect with the Father, how much more time do we need to connect with the Father?" What my friend was saying was that if Jesus needed a whole night of connection with the Father, we needed even more time invested in connecting with the Father.

What I found even more encouraging was located in Luke 5. This was not a one-time pulling away from everything by Jesus. In fact, it was more common than we might have imagined. Luke 5 tells us how the crowds heard of Jesus and sought to find healing through His words and actions. Then, Luke pointed out, "Yet He often withdrew to deserted places and prayed." (Luke 5:16 HCSB) Notice that word often in that verse. Were there legitimate needs in those crowds? Of course there were. But the need to connect with the Father was also present.

Sometimes, pulling away for a few hours or a day or even a week is as important as answering phone calls, emails, texts, or having meetings. The world will always have needs. In fact, in our world today, you will see that most people cannot see beyond their own needs to recognize that you have needs as well. Taking a breath away from the crowd and from the circumstances allows us to be refreshed by Christ and reconnect with the Lord so that we are, in fact, better equipped to help those around us. We can be run into the ground by trying to do everything and be everything, only to find that when we are completely depleted, we are no longer able to do what truly needs to be done.

I'm going to the mountains to breathe and to grieve. We should all find time to pull away as, when we look at Scripture, that is what Jesus did. May you find time this week to connect with God, away from everything else, so He can refresh you like no one else can do.