As I sat writing (when I should have been preparing for our road trip to our favourite place) the words, “come away with me” kept wafting through my mind.
When they finally took root, I pondered their origin, and remembered they were spoken in the Song of Solomon :
“My beloved calls to me, “Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one.” SOS 2:10
It is a most intimate invitation, a seduction of the Beloved to the Lover, it is intended to draw another away to a secluded place, away from the rest of the world, away from the everyday demands on life. It was an invitation to renewal.
But, it is more.
In Mark 6:31, Jesus says to his disciples :
“Come away with me. Let us go alone to a quiet place and rest for a while.”
This too was an intimate invitation, in that it was personal, yet spoken to a group of individuals. It was intended to draw them to a secluded place, where they could enjoy rest, refreshment and renewal.
Though it is good to be busy, doing the work that we have been gifted to do, it is also imperative that we go away. Go away to a vacation spot, a retreat, a secluded field, to your door-locked bathroom in a tub full of bubbles. And go with those, with one, closest to you, who you need to reconnect with, rest, refresh, renew and recreate together.
It is in the times when we answer the call to come away with me that we can remember the beauty of together, shared with the God who first called you to come away, with him.
This is his gift of refreshment to us, if only we would hear and answer his call.
itsawonderfilledlife 