The other day a person asked me where I find sanctuary, the answer was right on the tip of my tongue.  All of us have a sense of where that place of sanctuary in our lives.  Sanctuary is a place of peace, a place of strong connection with God, and a refuge.  It may be an actually physical place that we seek or it may be a place within ourselves that we go and meet with God.

     For me sanctuary is not a regular physical place.  Though I routinely would gravitate to places with water, particularly the ocean.  I find great connection there, but sanctuary for me is more of something that I always have with me.  Sanctuary is a place of listening for me, a place of silence and solitude.  It is a place that God reaches out to me and I back to God.

     To find this place of sanctuary we must begin by putting ourselves aside.  Laying aside distraction, even those that seem to be good.  we live in a world, particularly in the west, where being busy is one of the biggest hindrances to us having sanctuary.  We need to Ask God to show us what to lay down and what is important.  All of us have choices to make as we seek  refuge with God.

     It is not a place that I get to, by my own self, though I certainly need to choose to be there and to take part in what God is doing in my life.  The choices that I need to make relate to how I live before God and others.  How I listen and choose to follow what God would ask of me.  It requires of me to put away my own agenda and expectations, my own desires.  Even if I don’t seem to hear from God in that silence, I need to be ok with that and not be there just for some experience.  I still need to maintain an attitude that desires that relationship, reaching out to God, straining to hear what he might say.  It requires me to be steadfast and faithful, knowing all the while that God is steadfast and faithful to me.

     How is it that you find this space with God?  Is there a particular part of creation that draws you into this place with God?