The Gifts of Deserted Places
Mark 6:30 – 44
“The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.”
– Mark 6:30 – 32, NRSVUE
Populated places can be energizing and generative. Connecting with many people enables us to build relationships, learn from cultures different from our own, foster creativity, share loads hard to bear alone, and enjoy the company of our fellow human beings. Such places are indeed gifts for us.
Yet deserted places hold gifts of their own too. Sometimes we need solitude, quiet, or time outside of human-built spaces to rest, reflect, and connect with non-human creation.
This moment in Mark 6 where Jesus invites his disciples “to a deserted place” (v. 31) offers a refreshing word for us as well. We need reminders to embrace the gifts of deserted places so that we can recognize and cultivate the gifts of populated places too. While deserts, forests, unoccupied beaches, and meadows are not without precarious elements, such places can help us get grounded and notice all the happenings in God’s immense creation that we might otherwise miss. There we can set aside our to-dos and take a breath. There we can rest a while.
At this point in the Advent season, are you yearning to rest a while?
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Credits
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version updated edition of the Bible
Image of desert is by Juli Kosolapova on the Unsplash website
