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| Bush, on the shores of Lake Erie |
I'll have my Bible and my journal and a slow-cooked, meditative book - in this case Henri Nouwen's The Only Necessary Thing.
My sole purpose for doing this is to meet with God and to be met and addressed by God. God, and God alone, knows the address to the deep place of my heart. This is the place where God lives, the place where Christ, the hope of glory, dwells. Better is one day in this place than thousands elsewhere.
If there is an edge to my attitude it will be smoothed away. If there is anxiety it will dissipate. If there is fear it will be overcome. This forms a proof that "prayer works"; viz., that when I do not take these solitary times of God-conversing I am more anxious and more fearful and more edgy.
As a pastor I am daily involved in the struggles and hopes and fears of people I care for. I will bring these burdens to God and cast them upon him. As I do this I experience his care for my friends and for me. (1 Peter 5:7)
I will meditate on God-things and God-thoughts. I'll ponder them. When I do this God displays before my heart the Big Picture. When the Big Picture plays that means I have again found the place of rest and joy and wonder. "Wonder" awakes. This is always the sign that something very good is happening at the intersection of heaven and earth where my heart's address is located.
