Withdrawing to a Deserted Place

Today’s lectionary Gospel shows Jesus withdrawing to a deserted place. Perhaps the past few weeks have been filled with unusual activity: putting up decorations and taking them down, cooking treats and exercising off the calories, shoveling snow and writing thank-you notes, getting back into a routine or wishing for some normalcy. Withdrawing to a deserted place may seem welcome. Can you find a park, a room in your home, a space in your heart to withdraw from activity? If Jesus needed to “get away from it all,” so do we.