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By Tim Dowell

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is behind us, and the New Year brings with it the hope of fresh starts and new beginnings. It is the time when many will resolve to start anew in one way or another: perhaps to eat right, or eat less, exercise more, spend more time with loved ones, or kick a bad habit. Do any of these sound familiar?

I would like to suggest another candidate for your list of resolutions; one that will bear much fruit in your life and ministry. I would suggest resolving to spend just a little less time 'doing' and a little more time 'listening' to God.

As Jesus laid the foundation for the 'Discipleship Adventure,' he taught an important lesson that is often overlooked amidst the demands of our fast paced world ? the need to periodically turn away from the hustle and bustle of disciple making in order to focus on the one we claim to follow.

Jesus would regularly leave his crowds of followers behind and retreat to a 'desolate place' to pray. In those times of quiet and solitude, Jesus would prayerfully discern the direction his ministry was to take.

At times, Jesus would come away from these retreats with new direction that seemed to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, but they were the right decisions because they were born out of divine wisdom that could only be discerned in the quiet solitude of retreat.

As we, the Body of Christ, endeavor to discern how to apply the Discipleship Adventure in our various ministry contexts, we would be well advised to follow Jesus? example of retreating to a place of solitude to pray to ensure we do so in accordance with God?s will.

We in the Baltimore-Washington Conference are privileged to have several facilities that provide excellent settings in which to follow Jesus? example. Our West River Center provides a stunning waterfront setting on Chesapeake Bay in which to find that solitude. To the west, Camp Manidokan provides a very different setting in which to find that solitude; a beautiful hillside overlooking the Potomac River near Harper?s Ferry, W. Va. Further west yet, near Berkley Springs, W. Va., Camp Harmison provides the solitude on an inspiring mountainside setting along peaceful Sleepy Creek.

Each of these secluded locations provides a wide range of accommodations and facilities to ensure our time apart with God is time well spent.

In our fast-paced, results-oriented world, the idea of turning away from a never ending 'to do' list to do little more than pray and listen may seem down- right blasphemous ? but that couldn?t be further from the truth.

If Jesus found such retreats a necessary ingredient of his Discipleship Adventure, surely it needs to be a necessary ingredient in ours as well. Resolve this New Year to take time to be like Jesus, and take time away from the busywork of ministry in order to discern where that ministry should be headed.

The Rev. Tim Dowell is pastor of the Susquehanna Charge in Havre de Grace.