Spending Time Alone With God

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?  -Psalm 8:3, 4

I can’t help but think that the modern age of high tech media has thrown everyone a little off balance.  I mean, what did we do before the time of computers, cell phones, and IPods?  If my memory serves me correctly, we probable spent more time talking to people face to face as opposed to texting and chatting on line. We also spent more time outside exercising and enjoying the beauty of creation.  I know; someone will accuse me of being a hypocrite because here I am typing on this keyboard rather than walking the dog, visiting with my wife, or exercising.  Please; let me defend myself.  For one thing, it’s a little after midnight and my wife is asleep.  Secondly, I am still an avid reader.  And thirdly, I do 20-30 minutes of calisthenics nearly every day.  So hopefully you will believe when I say that modern technology has not taken me over completely.

I was reminded just the other day of the value of walking away from the TV, cell phone, and laptop for a while and simply spending some time outdoors.  I took the day off last Friday, packed some bottled water and granola bars in a knapsack, loaded Ada (my dog) in the car, and headed to Marion, Virginia, about an hour away, for an afternoon of hiking around beautiful and scenic Hungry Mother Park.  Ada was ecstatic from the get-go and couldn’t wait to hike the trails and plunge into the lake.  There was a fairly good amount of people there, but once we headed back into the trails we saw almost no one. 

As we walked along I kept thinking about what a beautiful place the park is: the rolling hills, the sun reflecting off the lake, the breeze blowing through the forest, and the serenity that permeated our every step.  Once we were back in the woods I let Ada off her leash, which adds to her thrill of hiking.  She runs ahead, but looks back often to make sure I am still behind her.  The deeper we hiked in the woods the closer I felt I was walking with God.  The Lord and I had a wonderful conversation.  For a blessed few hours I allowed myself the pleasure of pondering only my God, His grace, and the wonder of His creation.  All my problems would be waiting for me when I came back.  At one point I was actually singing – and hardly realized it!    

What a great day.  If we are too busy to spend time with the Lord, then we are too busy.  Go ahead; take some time off, even a few hours, and commune with our Lord. 

I am going back – real soon.  Ada can hardly wait.