Unplugged | Timeout
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” ~ Luke 5:16 (NIV)
Timeout.
The timeout technique is not without controversy in the parenting world. Yet, admittedly, it is one my husband and I used on occasion during the toddler years. When the house erupted with uncontrollable emotion, we would remove our son from the situation and put him in his bedroom to be alone. Almost always, the crying would dissipate and by the time I peeked my head in to check on him I would find him curled up with his teddy asleep on his bed, pink-cheeked and worn out from the bewildering tidal wave of emotions surging through his growing body and mind. Finally, with no relationships to negotiate or wide-open spaces to navigate or choices to make, he was able surrender to the still waters of rest.
The argument against timeouts is that we are social beings and that isolation itself is a form of punishment, one that can lead to a child’s sense of abandonment. But, what if a timeout is not a punishment at all, but rather an invitation to distance our overstimulated minds and spirits from a world assailing us with a constant barrage of choices, information, activities, news cycles, needs and commitments? Timeouts stop the clock so that a team can refocus, take a break from the intensity of the game, or so that they can step back and strategize a more effective approach.
Jesus was the master of timeouts. The crowds pressing in against him, hands reaching out for healing, voices crying out for saving and he calls a timeout, withdrawing to a lonely place to pray. If a single unanswered email can keep us up at night, surely the unmet needs of just one sick person (let alone hundreds in the crowds) weighed heavily on Jesus’ heart as he stepped away from such daily demands. The gospels record Jesus regularly retreating to the mountains or into the boat or desert place to be alone in his thoughts with God even when human need persisted. It was a disciplined practice for the Son of Man that I imagine even he resisted at times, having been made and uniquely called to love, save, and heal.
For us, we often go kicking and screaming into that quiet, solitary place, refusing to take a break when we’re overtired, stressed, and worn out. Seduced by our ability to produce, reap the fruits of our labor, and satisfy the needs of others, we just keep going and going and going until God calls a timeout - we get sick, we damage the relationship, we botch the deal – and we are forced to STOP. Once we come to that lonely place with God, if we’re too exhausted to pray maybe we’ll at least fall asleep and take a much-needed nap.
