I’ve been giving some thought to that fancied life of seclusion. Maybe the life of a monk, or my naive impressions of it, was the only way my mind could conceptualize living fully with God. Perhaps I didn’t have the strength to have both feet in my normal life and with God at the same time. It could be that deep in my spirit I knew there would come a day I’d have to choose between the world and Christ and I couldn’t conceive how that would unfold. On my walks, as I came to know Him more intimately, I left those mysteries in His hands.
When you can’t imagine how it will work, when the unfolding makes you nervous, when your heart declares Him in secrecy, but shies in the open: surrender it all to Him. He put the longing in your heart, it’s not wholly up to you to bring it to fruition. How could it be? You don’t know His plans. They are beyond your imagination and current capabilities. Just know they are good and that they intricately involve His intimate presence. Just to say, Lord, I love You. My heart sings for You. I am willing. Then take His hand and go where He goes.
God asks me to live in Him fully, not only in seclusion. Loving God isn’t a condition requiring quarantine, no, His love is more life-giving in the spreading. I receive Him in solitude and carry Him forth like a wave pushed from the sea, breaking and spraying, washing and refreshing. Retreating, filling and surging to break on the shore again.
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Ephesians 5:8
Meeting God at the Park 