Sacred Spaces

Vacation with God: On the Sacredness of Solitude

Please note: some posts contain affiliate links, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate links help support this website and help me offer resources that serve you. Thank you for your support.

I'm Kristin!

I'm here to share the love of writing as a source of healing and hope with you. Make yourself at home!

hey there

Get My Free Journal Page 

I'll take it, thanks

Encouraging and equipping you to write for healing and hope through a private membership experience
with an exclusive collection of offerings

This black and white photo I’m holding was taken of my dad in front of our cabin around 1956. He would have been 6 years old. He died in 2010, at 60 years old.

His ashes are buried at a small cemetery just down the road from our cabin; his grave marker engraved with the words “Vacare Deo.” ⁣

This place, my dad told me, just years a few years before his cancer diagnosis, was his “Vacare Deo.” It’s a phrase he and I learned together, which means “Vacation with God.” ⁣

I’m here this week, at the cabin that’s been in our family for generations. ⁣

There’s a sacredness here, and I want to touch it to see what it says.

What is here? What’s there to learn? What’s there to glean to grow? What’s there to simply receive in joy?⁣

⁣I sip my coffee from a Musky mug and gaze out at the lake that’s as still as glass, just as he did every time I went up north with him. I sit and remember him. I can hear his voice in almost every thing I do. I can almost smell his Irish Spring soap too. That mundane details feels so significant and fills me with a healing I cannot quite describe other than to say it makes my soul smile.⁣

I’m not even finished with my coffee when my boys wake up and go straight to fishing and playing in the water. They look under rocks for creatures, catch eager bluegills off hotdogs and empty hooks, and feed the chipmunks scraps of their snacks. I watch with a smile just as I imagine my dad did with my brother and I when we were little kids doing the same things.⁣

I receive great joy in these quiet moments.

I taste and see the Lord’s untainted goodness in tangible ways here that seem so veiled and hidden in the every day hustle and bustle of life back home, and especially on those dark days that come. ⁣

I feel the healing of bitter grief.⁣

There’s a sacred giving that I’m receiving this week.

It feels gentle and kind after many seasons of traumatic takings.

I remind myself that, though the seasons and places change, the Lord remains the same. He does not give and take His love. His love is ever-present, although I am not always present to it. ⁣

A little internet search describes “Vacare Deo” as space for God; “solitude with God that repairs the damage done by the fret, noise, and clamor of this world.”⁣

This is what I find here. This is what I carry back home with me in my heart. This is how I find space for my soul to breathe. I realize that Vacare Deo names why I write and why show up here.⁣

In solitude with the Lord, we find soul-filling union with Him. We find healing, joy, and hope in His presence.⁣

No matter where you are today, may you find space for God and go to meet with Him in a quiet place—even if it’s in the stillness of your own heart.⁣


If you’d like to receive more content like this delivered to your inbox, subscribe here:

+ show Comments

- Hide Comments

add a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

rainbow 'enthusiast,' ENNEAGRAM 4, deep thinker + deeper feeler

I'm Kristin.
Your host here and new writing
mentor.

I'm a bereaved mom, former English teacher and stay-at-home mom (to two growing boys), veteran military spouse married to my high school sweetheart, contemplative creative, writer, and writing coach. I'm all about spreading the love of writing as a way of healing and hope.

Learn more

about me