Colorado is probably my favorite place on this planet; and to be more specific, a small retreat center in the mountains west of Colorado Springs is my favorite place on this planet. And I go there every year.

Recently, I have been writing about my thoughts and ideas concerning all the stuff in my life, and all the stuff going on in my life. I have come to realize that it is time for some simplification, some reorganization, and some reprioritizing of much of my life. That’s not always easy to do, simply because the regular pressures of the day to day grind can prevent us from taking the time to really evaluate where we are and compare that with where we want to be.

I have found that a spiritual retreat can be a very helpful tool to help accomplish this. This is something I have implemented into my life on a regular basis for several years, and have seen some very amazing results in my life. I do this at two different levels: Annually, I take a week and head to Colorado with several other people in ministry. It’s a time of refreshing and renewal. More on that in a moment.

More frequently, I utilize what I call PRDs, or Personal Retreat Days. These are one day events, or perhaps a single overnight stay somewhere. I have gone camping, stayed in hotels, or just simply found a friend’s cabin or even a picnic table in a state park somewhere. During these PRDs, I take an in-depth look at my Life Plan, spend significant amounts of time in Scripture and prayer, and simply soak up the presence of God in my life.

There have been a few times where I felt like the best thing to do was to literally rest in God’s presence, so I hung my hammock and took a nap. There have been other times where I felt like God was pulling me in certain directions, and I’d spend time reading passages from the Bible and other books about topics like marriage, or parenting, or fasting, and much more.

These have all been beneficial for my spiritual health in the short term, occurring every six to eight weeks. And the “wilderness” I head to may look a lot like a hotel room in a nearby town. But it’s still a helpful retreat.

On a much deeper level, once a year, I take that trip to Colorado, and we head up into the mountainous wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. This is an opportunity to go much deeper into my self-evaluation and diagnosis of my spiritual health than the PRDs allow. This is an opportunity to spend some significant amounts of time in God’s Word and prayer. The wilderness allows a level of solitude that is hard to accomplish in more populated areas. And while the view outside a hotel window may be nice, it can’t compare to the sweeping vistas of the Rocky Mountain wilderness.

Specifically, this Wilderness is a retreat at Bear Trap Ranch, organized and offered by Christ In Youth. And it is an opportunity to hit the spiritual reset button each year, in order to continue to grow into who God wants me to be. I often call it the “fiscal review of my spiritual year,” because that seems to describe it well.

Why do I do this so regularly? Because Jesus did. He often withdrew from the crowds, often into the wilderness around Judea, to seek God’s presence and to spend time in prayer. He made it a priority, and it is a big part of what sustained him though his ministry on this earth. It says this in Luke 5:16:

But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

It’s a habit worth developing.

Question: How often do you withdraw into the “wilderness” to seek God’s presence and to pray? You can leave a comment by clicking here.