Episode #291 Sacred Moments Hidden in Your Busy Day- Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey friend. You might not have hours of silence, but what if your day is already full of sacred moments, just waiting to be noticed? Well, I bring that up because I think that's the case. No matter if you have kids at home or a packed work schedule or just craziness happening in your circumstances right now, you have little solitudes that fill your day that God wants to draw your attention to, and that's what we're talking about in today's episode.

If you've been around for a little bit, you know I'm reading Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline, and he talks about these little moments that help us to be genuinely present where we are. He exhorts us to take advantage of them. “These tiny snatches of time are often lost to us. What a pity! They can and should be redeemed. They are times for inner quiet, for reorienting our lives like a compass needle."

This awareness, this presence, is helpful for me because I'm in a season where there's a ton of things going on. I have super exciting work projects. I'm working on some books. Of course, I'm recording the podcast. And I'm recording this episode in the middle of summer. So my kids are home from school, and so there's just so many things that can fill my day. It feels impossible to get a moment away, even just to catch my breath. But God is aware of the needs that we have, and even in the midst of them, he invites us to snag these little moments of solitude.

In preparation for this episode, I was reminded of a passage from Mark chapter 6. Now we pick up Mark 6 where Jesus is calling the disciples and he's sending them out two by two into ministry and he tells them, don't take stuff for your journey. No bread, no bag, no money, and scripture tells us that they went out and proclaimed that people should repent and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil, many who were sick and healed them. This is the beginning of Mark 6, and then it goes into the story of the death of John the Baptist and how Herod beheads him.

And then it continues the rest of that chapter in the feeding of the 5,000. And so I wanna pick up for us in Mark chapter 6, verse 30. And it says, “The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”

Now, I love this awareness because as a parent I can relate to that had no leisure even to eat.

And so they get in the boat, they go to a desolate place by themselves, but people saw them going and recognize them. It says, “they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

And he begins to teach them. And this is the setup for the feeding of the 5,000.

Now I'm guessing you can relate to some of that too. You try and sneak away for a moment with God and the needs that are going on in your world, the to-do that you have, the errands that have yet to be done, run ahead and get there before you. And it feels like, “Ugh, am I never gonna get a break?!”

Well, Jesus ministers and everyone eats and are satisfied, including the disciples. And then it says in verse 45, “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.”

Then he walks on the water and he's actually intending according to scripture, to pass the boat. He was gonna keep this time to himself, but the disciples needed ministry. And so Jesus stops and ministers to them because they were afraid to see him walking on the water.

Now, the beauty that I see in all of this is that even with the many needs, the many ministry needs, the many people who were following Jesus and his disciples and who were depending on them for care and love in ministry, Jesus still found these sacred moments for himself to withdraw, to be with the Father, and to invite his disciples into rest.

Even in the short time they had in the boat before they arrived with the crowds, and then immediately after, he puts them on the boat again and sends them back across. These are snagged moments that I would probably overlook. Instead, the invitation for each of us today is to take these small, ordinary moments as opportunities to reorient our hearts toward God. Like a compass needle finding true north, we can catch our breath, we can receive rest and refreshment from him.

I don't know what God has next for you today. Maybe it's in simply taking a moment of silence, not filling your mind, your hands, your head, or your heart with something else to do. Maybe it's in showing you what a little solitude can look like in the midst of your day today. Or maybe it's inviting you into a form of rest because he wants to replenish you.

I don't know what that is, but I know that God does. And so here's our question to take to him:

God, what's next for me today? I know there's something he wants to share with you.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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