Time alone with God is good for the soul

ready To be an imitator of God requires that we come to terms with the value of quietness, slowing down, coming apart from the noise and the speed of today’s pace of life.

-- CHARLES R. SWINDOLL

I was on my way home after a busy morning of busy meetings with busy people, and the roads seemed busier than normal, and my mind was extra busy. The wind was howling and the streets were covered with flying leaves, dust and debris.

I listened to the news, but it only added to my busy thoughts, so I turned it off. My mind continued to battle the noise of thoughts flying in many directions. I had some time before my next appointment, so I drove to a place overlooking Big Corona, parked and turned off my car’s engine.

I sat for a few moments and prayed for God to quiet my mind and fill me with his peace. When I opened my eyes, I watched the waves crash, quietly prayed and listened to God. Not only did I feel an inner calm, I felt as if God gently hugged me and told me he loved me.

I felt refreshed the rest of the day.

I need to take a time of quiet regularly, and I chuckle when I think about how our granddaughter Mary showed us that she knew she needed a time of quiet herself. Jon and I baby-sat her one evening when she was about a year and a half old, and Jon’s parents were over as well.

It wasn’t time for dinner and Jon’s father played on the floor with Mary and began tickling her. Mary loved it and was happily giggling, when she suddenly stopped, crawled away from her great-grandfather, stood up, turned around and faced him, and held her little pointer finger up as if to say, “Time out. Stop everything. Hold it right there for a moment. I’ll be right back.” And then she walked across the room and leaned against the wall for a minute.

She didn’t say anything, she seemed to just be catching her breath, then she ran back over to where she’d been, got back down on the carpet, and backed into the same spot she’d been, which was right within reach of her great-grandfather. He was more than happy to comply, and they continued their tickling and giggling routine for a few more minutes until dinner was ready.

We’ve laughed about it several times because it was as though Mary knew she needed to pause the play for a brief time out to pull herself together before returning to the fun.

It made me think of the discipline technique of giving children a time out, or a short time of isolation to regroup and calm down. There was certainly no discipline problem with the tickle fest, but it was similar in that sometimes we need to pull away from a situation to get alone and collect ourselves.

Mary knew she needed a brief break, and she was a wise little toddler to assign it to herself. She held her cute little finger up to her great- grandfather to let him know that she needed a time out.

If only we knew that we need to assign ourselves a brief time out from our routine to regroup, and ideally, to reconnect with God every day, then we could let him refresh us from deep within.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at cindy@onthegrow.com or through the mail at 537 Newport Center Drive, Box 505, Newport Beach, CA 92660.

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