Alone in the Crowd

 Hello all,

This last week, Tony and I juggled our schedule a bit and went on a little getaway up in the hills, not that far from home, but mentally it felt like miles and miles away.  We wanted some time to reflect, reconnect and get some writing and planning done.  The area was called “Wallaby Ridge”, and it couldn’t have been more appropriately named. In fact, when our host went away (as he frequently did, since it’s off season and visitors like us were rare), wallabies were our only companions. And they are nice to have around, really. As you probably know, wallabies are like kangaroos, just smaller. They’re cute, and love to nibble on the succulents next to our window. But I wouldn’t call them great pets. Even when they look your way, they never focus on you, but seem to be gazing at something far off in the distance, and certainly not at you.

One morning while trying to make friends with a mob of wallabies in the flower bed, I commented to myself, “I might as well be all alone.” Then a memory came to mind: a comment by Frances Fuller, a missionary to Lebanon. She was speaking about Jesus and saying that many times, He seemed to have the ability to be “alone in the crowd.” 

I searched all over, but couldn’t find a specific verse to illustrate that.  I know it’s marked in my favorite Bible, but sadly, that Bible’s been in storage for quite awhile. However, I think it’s clear when we look at the life of Jesus that He did spend a lot of time “alone in the crowd”. The people He was with just couldn’t relate; and even when they turned their focus on Him, a lot of times it was like a long stare into nothing more than their own expectations of Him.

This next week, I’m hoping to find some “selective alone time”; by that I mean to gather up kids and grandkids and head even farther out of town, about five hours north. From there, we’ll get on a ferry and sail over to Fraser Island. It’s the largest island in the world made completely of sand, and yet it’s rainforest.  You can’t go there unless you have four-wheel drive, and even then you have to check the tide charts, since a lot of the road depends on beaches at low tide. Our seven-year-old has come to the conclusion that we’re going “overseas” since the trip does require a boat. 

The biggest challenge today is whether or not we’ll be able to go at all, since the flu is making the rounds. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know next week how it worked out.

In the meantime, think about the “alone time” you’re experiencing this week. Is it “selective”, involving people who come in by invitation, or is it “absolute”, totally apart from any and all? Or, like Jesus, can you be “alone in the crowd”?

For me, it was the wilful putting away of our devices, (except for the ones we did a lot of writing on), that really cleared my head last week.  Take it from me, a real addict, and I’m not being disingenuous when I say this, the week alone with God, Tony and Nature was a treat!  Try it sometime..

Stay tuned to see if we have a fun filled riotious adventure next week, or a quiet one being forced to cancel a trip.

Laters, Marsha