By nature, I am an introvert. A friend of mine helped me understand that introverts need to be alone in order to "recharge" themselves. That describes me. Time with my immediate family (Lisa and Evan) is great for me, too. One of my favorite times of day, though, is about 5 a.m. I usually get up a bit before that and am actually awake by 5. I am the only one in the house who is awake. (Well, the dog may be awake but she's in a different room.) I can use that early morning time to read, pray, or do Bible study and that is great. Sometimes I use it to catch up on email or devotional and blog reading. In any event, I always hate it when 6:00 rolls around and I need to hit the shower. I'd love to have just a few more minutes to prepare and recharge for the day.

Jesus sought solitude when he needed to gain strength and direction. 40 days in the desert. After learning that John was executed. After feeding the 5,000. After healing the "many" in Capernaum. The Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest. These were all times when He went to be alone and visit with His father. Time to recharge. Time to seek direction. Time to prepare.

Despite His seeking solitude at certain times, He was one with the Father at all times. I suspect that, in His human form, Jesus needed times of true focus and devotion with God.

In our life, I think there are different ways to gain solitude and different things can work for different people. Like I said, I can be alone completely or with Lisa and Evan and still have the ability to recharge.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, in The Way of the Heart, explains how solitude with God can be a continuous thing. You don't have to scale a mountain and live alone in a cave for 40 years. We can have continual contact with God by staying in the world but not of the world. Having a human body but God's heart. Being at constant peace.

I remember my great grandmother who exemplified this peace at all times. No matter what was going on around her or what beset her, she was at peace. She knew that her place and her ultimate worth were not in this world but with God and that was where her mind and heart were at all times. When she died at the age of 94, according to the mortician, she did so with a smile on her face.

Despite my desire for recharging time either alone or with my family, I still have quite a ways to go before having this sort of peace in my mind and heart at all times. I pray that I might reach that point at some time before I die. The sooner, the better.