"To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude. This requires not only courage but also a strong faith. As hard as it is to believe that the dry desolate desert can yield endless varieties of flowers, it is equally hard to imagine that our loneliness is hiding unknown beauty. The movement from loneliness to solitude, however, is the beginning of any spiritual life because it is a movement from the restless senses to the restful spirit, from the outward-reaching cravings to the inward-reaching search, from the fearful clinging to the fearless play." Henri Nouwen

It is hard to carve  a significant period of solitude in the normal busy life each of us experiences daily. When we do, after a while the fruits of the stillness before God will begin to grow. Like everything else, it only happens when we see and make it a priority in one's life.  These times of solitude will begin to bring greater order and clarity in our life. We begin to see things from God's perspective  and importance.  It takes practice to enter into solitude, but more importantly, it is guided by God's grace. As busy as Jesus was in ministry, he sought this solitude, so that he can remain focused on what the Father wanted him to do. So too with us.