bythemethod.com blog

Escaping from the busy-ness of life would be great, wouldn’t it? Don’t we all want a chance to get away from it all and find that little oasis where all of our troubles are gone and we can be perfectly happy? Yet when we try so often we fail. We have holidays that take us five days to settle in to and then we have to start thinking about getting back. Or we anticipate a future where maybe this might just be possible - perhaps when we retire we can enjoy this temple of peace.

If you are looking for this temple then read on …

You maybe looking in the wrong place

The way most of us live life does not include any reference to a place where we might find peace in our busy lives. We live in a world that seeks peace in the material. We are in love with things we can buy and enjoy, we are intoxicated with scientific progress. Now I don’t think these things in themselves are bad  - indeed I think the world would be pretty miserable without them - but they blind us to where we can find the peace we crave.

What we need is sanctuary

We need a place where we can go that will give us that peace we need. Not just a little bit of peace but the kind of peace we can carry with us into our everyday lives. We need a sanctuary.

The word sanctuary has its origins in Latin and means in essence a holy place of refuge.

The problem is that this is not something that can be manufactured. You can buy it in the shops or make it in a factory. No travel agent will be able to book you in and no therapy centre or spa will be able to show its sanctuary facility.

Of course many churches have places they call the sanctuary but you could sit in that place for months and still not find the peace that we are looking for.

A holy place is holy because it has been made so by God

Holiness comes from God and not anyone else. There is no one who can manufacture it because it is something that has been made holy by its association with the only one who can make it so.

So the sanctuary we seek cannot be found in the normal run of things. We have to be looking for God if we want to find this oasis in the busy-ness of life.

I’m sorry if that sounds a little preachy. I tried to write it in more general terms but it just seemed wrong to me. I think there is a tendency for people to beat around the bush these days and say stuff that they hope people will get rather than just saying it outright.

Here is a beating around the bush statement if you hanker for one at this point.

The search for sanctuary is the search for the divine.

By divine I mean God - so why not just say that?

Sadly too many times we assume that when people say you need God they think we say that God is the opposite of everything you enjoy. All those parties you like and all that fun you have and all those things you like to buy and all that food you like to eat etc is not the opposite of God. In fact it was God who invented the fun in the first place. God is not trying to spoil your fun he is trying to make it better.

A refuge does not need to be a place to flee too it can be a place you carry with you

When Moses left Egypt with the Israelites God told him to build a tent for God to live in. Wherever the people went God’s sanctuary would go with them.

One of our problems today is that we assume to get away from busy-ness means to escape from all the stuff we have to do. If we didn’t have work or children or husbands or wives or friends to worry about then life would be simpler and easier. It isn’t.

What we need is to take the peace with us so that we can be at peace despite the busy-ness.

First steps

Well I guess the first bit is to be willing to open ourselves up to God. I’m not suggesting you believe anything in particular here - just that you open yourself up to the search for God.

The next step is to do with others. We need to love and help other people more. I’m not suggesting you try to become a saint but that you make an effort to treat other people better. You treat others better when you are kind, generous, forgiving, caring, supportive, polite, friendly, helpful, honest, etc,

If you are a business person then treat your employees and customers better. If you are a parent then make an effort to be nicer to your children. If you have friends be nicer to your friends. You get the picture.

You are not trying to be perfect but just trying to be better.

It’s a funny thing but when you are a better person you start to feel closer to God. If you don’t believe me then give it a try.