Alone Together
What does this season of waiting hold for you?
I feel certain God has something waiting for you that will thrill you to the core.
Here I sit, 4 a.m. It’s my favorite time of the day actually. The world sleeps, and I feel a sudden thrill. It’s as if there’s an energy within me, bursting forth at the promise of this pregnant pause. Here’s what I know:
It’s dark and quiet, and no one else is awake.
There will likely be coffee.
I’m going to open my bible, and God’s going to meet with me.
I’ll finally have a chance to be alone with my thoughts, and something satisfying will pour out from the bottled up conversation inside me.
The excitement of this moment brings a smile to my face. It’s pure joy! I’m not awake at this time everyday, though I’m not sure why that is? No, the gift of these mornings come to me most often when I’ve either fallen asleep on the couch the night before or while tucking a kid in. So I stir earlier than normal, and I run to a quiet corner where I can find the message God needs to write on my soul.
I wonder if the lure of this hour is that this gift of time belongs only to me? Nothing else has to be done at dark thirty apart from sitting with God, waiting, listening, and obediently pouring out. No one else needs me. There is no crying, no arguing, no clamoring for my attention. No phone calls, no emails, no laundry to fold, or meals to prepare. It’s just me and the Lord, alone together.
It’s just me and the Lord, alone together.
We’re five weeks into the quarantine era of life now. I’ve heard others use the word “unprecedented” at least three hundred times a day. While it is an unprecedented time in history, in reality it feels like each day on it’s own is beyond precedented. It’s Groundhog Day all over again. And for some reason, for many of us, the pause of life doesn’t feel very fruitful. We don’t know what to do with this time. We feel a sense of guilt that we’re not doing more. There’s sooo much space that I, for one, feel unable to do much of anything. I could cut the kids’ hair. I could clean the house top to bottom. It sure wouldn’t hurt! I could paint that bedroom upstairs, or try my hand at making sourdough bread. I could shower and fix my hair. But I don’t.
Let me be clear: not all of the day is spacious right now. I am a working parent, and there are three separate homeschooling kids swirling around me with divergent needs all throughout the day; meanwhile, I try to make sense of my thoughts in front of a bunch of people who wear makeup and real clothes, and who somehow seem to lack any measure of chaos. I toggle the mute button in an attempt to divide the professional me from the parenting me, but it’s a futile fight. And then I’m reminded of those who struggle with silence rather than noise.
Some are single, some elderly. Others have lost their people and their work. Some grieve missing children who would otherwise be filling the space of this stay-at-home season with loud life. Theirs is a deafening silence. I imagine it might be like my 4 a.m hour stretching permanently across the pages of every day, and I doubt it would feel as exciting if not scarce.
The clock ticks.
Whatever situation you face today, whether noisy or loud with silence, I wonder if you might join me in allowing a sparkle of excitement to stir within you once again. Might you find a few moments today among the many to steal away with the Lord - to be alone together? I promise He is there waiting for you in this season of waiting. God loves you and has something to show you in His Word. It will satisfy the deepest longings of your heart. It’s filled with life.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.-Psalm 145: 18-19
You are not alone. We are all in this together, and God is near. He is up to something big in our hearts and lives today. Maybe it’s making sense of all this space. What is most important to us? What will we prioritize into our daily practices? For goodness sake, let it be time alone with Him and connecting personally with one another.
For help with how to have a daily quiet time with the Lord, or to learn how to link arms with others in deep relationship through discipleship, join the journey with me. By adding your name to our subscribers list, you’ll get access to our Discipleship Toolkit and receive timely messages of encouragement when you need them most. I’d love to connect with you in this time of togetherness.