Mark Photos - 1:35-39 - Alone
Mark 1:35-39 - Preaching in Galilee
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
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I haven't always been this way, but I have become one of those early morning people. I love getting up early. I love the stillness of the day, the first glimpses of light coming from the rising sun, and the pure quiet that I have a hard time finding anytime else. Its also the time that I feel I don't have many demands on my time. As a result, it is the best time for me to quiet my soul and listen to what God may be saying to me for the day ahead. I wonder if that was something of what Jesus liked about the early morning as this is not the only time in the Gospels that we read about Jesus waking up and heading to a deserted place by himself. After all, it was just the last story in this Gospel that the writer said that the whole city was waiting for Jesus. No wonder he wanted some time on his own (I wonder what Jesus' MBTI type or his Enneagram number was)....This picture was taken just as the sun was rising near Hilton Head, SC a few weeks ago. I woke up early and took a bike ride to see the sun rise over the marsh areas - it was lovely - just the sound of the birds, of some water moving nearby, and the humor of a sign right behind where I took this picture saying, "please do not feed the alligators." The slow filling of the sky with light and the colors changing with the dawn just filled my soul - and it still fills even as I look at this picture once again.
But like Jesus' time in this passage, like all other quiet, still times, they must come to an end. Maybe its like this story where Jesus' disciples come to him and say, "where are you" or its a young child bounding down the stairs, or its simply time to get ready to go to work. But I cannot imagine having too many days without this blessed time to be still, to listen, to breathe, to renew.