The Second Gaze - People

I had a realization at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon. I had left early that morning to go to my writing retreat. My wife was up but the kids were still asleep when I left. When 3:30 arrived and I had a zoom meeting to participate in with two of my dear friends, I realized that I had not seen another person since about 6a that morning (other than people in other cars). And even then, it was just two faces on a computer screen. It wasn’t until about 3 hours later when I got home that I saw other people in person. There are times that I love to be with people and then are times that it is good to get away and to simply experience solitude and silence.

I love how in Luke 5, it describes crowds of people growing and following Jesus but then there’s a simple sentence in verse 16…

But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.

Luke 5:16

I can’t say that I have crowds of people following me and I am by no means Jesus but yesterday I was feeling that space of simply withdrawing to pray, to listen, to walk, to write. And in that space, I heard the Spirit speaking.