Stop and Smell the Roses

Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35) 

Jesus the God-Man knew the importance of entering into silence, leaving the world behind Him, and taking the time to speak with His Father in prayer. Why is this something that we have so much trouble with sometimes? I know personally that I struggle with distractions. The entire reason behind my choosing to write about this came from a revelation I had the other day. I was driving with my friend in his truck to go to an appointment we had. He was driving, I had my computer on my lap typing away at a research paper I was working on, and we were listening to the radio. Every so often, my friend would also pull out his phone to check the source of various bells and whistles as they occurred. I couldn’t help but realize how many things were going on at once. I had to get to this appointment and had to finish my research paper. On top of those immediate necessities, I felt compelled to enjoy some music and my friend felt compelled to ease the boredom of driving with texts and Facebook messages.

I think that moment accurately described many of us. We always have too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Our minds are going at a million miles per minute. I love the above passage from Mark. Jesus rose before dawn, before many people were even considering waking up, and went off to a deserted place. Deserted, meaning nothing is there. He was able to be completely alone with His Father. Aside from passing along the Gospel and treating each other with love and compassion, prayer must be a huge part of our life. In fact, prayer is our direct connection with God, making it the most important thing we do. How can we serve Him if we cannot hear Him speaking to us through prayer? How can we hear him with distraction after distraction plaguing our minds? There is always a way. Even if we have to wake up a little sooner than we usually do or go off into a room by ourselves there is always a way. We must make an effort.

My challenge for you is to put down everything even if just for a few minutes, go off by yourself, and talk to your Heavenly Father. You never know what He might reveal to you!

Here’s a picture from my days in Coast Guard Aviation as an MH-65D flight crewman. “Roses” can come in many different shapes and forms:

Till next time…