There is a passage in the Bible where Jesus invites some of his friends to “come into the wilderness and rest a while.” Before I became a quadriplegic I just assumed Jesus really enjoyed fishing, hunting and climbing trees. (Give me a break… I was a child when I broke my neck. 🙂 In recent years that particular verse has taken on so much more meaning for me, my family and my friends.
I’ve lost the ability to go more than about one mile an hour. I’ve come to appreciate this as a blessing. It has become such a noisy and busy world that we frequently rush by some of the biggest blessings and opportunities for refreshment.
My wife and I crave time in the wilderness alone and with our best friends. When is the last time and how often are you truly alone? When is the last time you even spent 30 minutes alone with a friend, totally inaccessible by any form of communication to the rest of the world? I believe you can learn more about a person in the wilderness, even if for only a short time, than you can know about the same person in other settings for several days in a row. I go to the wilderness to recharge my batteries, draw closer to friends and closer to my Creator.
I love to ride through the woods very slowly and stare at everything from trees to critters. On a piece of property where I spend a tremendous amount of time, there is a very ugly patch of ground. For years we rushed past this place so we could get to the next pretty patch of woods. One day, instead of focusing on what I consider a scar in the land, I happened to raise my eyes and look up beyond the area we were hurrying through. Amazing! When I changed my focus, when I lifted my eyes and looked beyond where I currently was, I saw the most incredible view from the ugly sandpit. I had never noticed that the area
was elevated quite a bit and offered a spectacular view where you could see untouched forest for what had to be 20 or 30 miles
What a wonderful experience. A place we rarely even considered became a place we intentionally spend time because we slowed down and changed our focus.
Every time I lose my way, whether I am on the pavement or in the wilderness, if I will intentionally changed my focus and begin to count the blessings that God has given me, I am overcome by God’s goodness and the reality that He knows me by name.
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