Alone Time, Yes Please

Even grown-up ladies, like me,
enjoy laying in the fall leaves
and looking up to the sky.
Alone time, YES PLEASE!

As a very young child, I remember going off alone to have quiet time. I'd lay on my back on the grass or climb a tree in our back yard to look at the clouds & daydream. Or, I'd grab a book & lay on the floor behind the big couch in the family room. Sometimes I'd build a fort out of blankets & pretend that I was alone on the side of a mountain.

When I was in elementary school, one of our church leaders at a summer day camp would have us sit down in the middle of a huge field at our church camp, close our eyes & listen quietly (and intently). When a certain time was up, we'd share what we had heard. I'd often do that on my own - listening to the crickets or birds around me. I loved time alone out in nature.

In our current study series at church, One by One, one week the study title was "Intimate Conversations With God." I was reminded of how easy it is to have superficial conversations with God when we pray. It's also easy to parrot prayers we have heard others offer... and to offer prayers using the big words or phrases we've gathered from listening to speakers & evangelists. It's not always easy to cry out to God in vulnerability or sit before Him speechless or speak of the sins we wish to hide -- even hide from ourselves. It's only in the open, brokenness of our prayers that we have true communion with God. One of my favorite songs is an "oldie goldie" and talks of time spent with God. It was written in 1912.

In The Garden

written by C. Austin Miles, 1912

I come to the garden alone

While the dew is still on the roses

And the voice I hear falling on my ear

The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,

And the melody that He gave to me

Within my heart is ringing.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

I’d stay in the garden with Him

Though the night around me be falling,

But He bids me go; through the voice of woe

His voice to me is calling.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

I love to come to God alone. In those times, He discloses so much to me. And, in the alone times with God, I learn more about Him & about myself.

Another great song, sung by Larnelle Harris, tells of God sitting on a bench in a garden waiting for time with His beloved child. Take a listen to I Miss My Time With You. 

Don't miss out on what God wants to whisper to you in the times you sit alone with him. Don't be too busy to spend quality time with God! Take time to meet with Him daily.

Linking with Ann Voskamp - A Holy Experience today...