Thursday: I miss "My Spot"

Sometimes in my life, it doesn’t seem like it’s enough to just have a quiet time. Mostly because the pursuit of that quiet which is so necessary to fully enrich that time usually will lead me to my bedroom, a park, or a coffee shop. These places are all well and good, and I enjoy all of them to a point, but there’s some times when you have specific, heavy, questions for God, or such a strong longing to just learn from and contemplate the Word that a special spot is needed. The go-to spot, where the rest of the world has trouble reaching you, you need to search for a clock, and there is a vivid reminder of the greatness of my God. This is my spot:

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It took me roughly 22 years to find it, mostly because I didn’t realize that this particular need could ever be even partially met on this earth. I had tried other spot’s as I mentioned earlier. I would drive around sometimes looking for that spot, especially at those times when I needed it most. There were a couple reasonable possibilities. There was the park near my house that is always empty but still vivid enough to help you think or my backyard early in the morning or late at night when you can’t hear the noise of traffic. You get the idea. All of these places were nice, but they just weren’t IT.

I finally found IT this summer. There were times over the summer that I would really have trouble focusing on and connecting with God. I still can’t explain it exactly. The feeling of disconnection was more intense then I’d ever felt. Possibly because all the usual context of my times with God were gone. My family wasn’t there, the usual friends weren’t there, and the environment was drastically different. After a couple weeks though, I rode my bike out to the nearby ocean to give having a quiet time out there a shot. The beaches in that area were always quiet and you can just climb up on these large man-made blocks that start right on the oceans edge and actually lead you out over the ocean. Sitting out there, staring at the immensity and just listening to the ocean, regular things that usually gum up my mind kind of disappeared. I could read and pray and seek some answers and at times actually find them. So the rest of that summer whenever we had some downtime, realizing that my time with that spot was short, I would go out there and re-charge and learn.

Now I guess I’m searching for a replacement for that spot. There’s always the possibility I’ll get a chance to revisit the original, but for now a new spot is in order. It’s really weird for me, because I’ve always held the mindset that environments and circumstances aren’t that important. They could just be discounted as either token assistance in my walk or slight hindrances. Now however, I’d have to argue that finding “The Spot” is important. It has the power to enliven your quiet time so much. Here’s hoping my search for the next spot is shorter than the search for the original.