DRY
And the well runs dry. It's one of the most common experiences in the spiritual life. A practice that we have cherished, a habit that has deepened us and drawn us closer to God, a discipline that we perhaps have engaged in for years no longer seems to work. Gradually over time or overnight with no warning, its familiar contours turn foreign, dull, perhaps even painful.
These times call us to some of our deepest discernment. They dare us to ask, Am I being called to go deeper in the practice, to persist, to keep digging toward the wellspring that surely must be here somewhere? Am I being invited to wait and listen? Or is God leading me toward a different practice than the one I have known?
This kind of discernment, of course, is its own practice. Pondering the questions that lie at the bottom of a dry well offers a journey of its own. What I know is this: to find the answers, we have to pay attention to the dryness. This is a desert place. As uncomfortable as it may be, there is no substitute for these desert places in the spiritual life. They offer a wisdom that we cannot get any other way.
I was reminded this week in Bible Study and this morning at church during the sermon how important spending time in the desert place, in the place of solitude and of prayer is. It's a reminder I often need to hear, one I strive to never forget but one that often gets forgotten. It's the permission to stop and feed my spiritual desires when the rest of the world has expanded my to do list or the demands of academic life have me struggling for breath underneath piles of paper. It's the message telling me that taking the time to go off by myself and pray will not only serve me but in return will serve the work, ministry and relationships I am engaged in. It's the quiet place, the pause place, the place of solitude and the place of direction.
Jesus reminds us to enter into that place. Jesus models for us the importance in taking time in that place where we connect with God. In Mark 1:35-38 after a full day of teaching in the Synagogue and healing everyone who came to him we read:
"While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with him went looking for him. They found him and said, "Everybody's looking for you." Jesus said, "Let's go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I've come."
After hours and hours of healing Jesus was re-grounded in the direction of why he is here, what he has been called to do.
This week, don't forget to enter into the desert place. The place of solitude and of prayer. And maybe there, in that place of "pause" you will be re-energized with the knowing of what it is you've been called here to do.
