Photo by jessicahtam

By Maria Liu Wong

January was a pretty tough month. It began with a fairly calm, retrospective New Year’s Day with my family. After a festive brunch, we took out last year’s personal and family goals written on strips of paper and kept in a glass jar on the dining room cupboard, a reminder of new beginnings and possibilities. We took turns reading our 2017 goals and considering what was ahead for 2018.

“Cultivate a healthy and productive faith-work-life-family rhythm.”

This had been my goal for both 2016 and 2017. Last January, I had crossed out the “6” and added a “7” next to it…a sign of both dissonance with reality and continuity of desire to be intentional about finding space and rhythm for life.

I opted for a different goal for this year.

“Spend more time with God, at rest, with family, and doing what brings me life and joy.”

Not that my 2016/2017 goal was not worthwhile, but I realized that I needed to consider a paradigm shift from scarcity (of time, energy, focus, etc.) to abundance. I wanted to spend more rather than less time doing what brought me life and joy…more time in solitude and more time with community.

In Luke 5:16, we read that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” He found renewal and restoration in spending time with His Father. He knew what He needed and made time to do it.

In New York City, living life can be a lot. Raising a family with three young children, leading a Girl Scout Daisy troop, hosting two church community groups, cherishing much-needed downtime with my husband, caring for my mother who is staying with us for a month after surgery, and finding space and time for rest has not been easy.

At the same time, I am involved in building an institution that just last July was officially recognized by the New York State Department of Education as a college, allowing us to offer a graduate degree and raising the scope of my work to a whole new level. After that reflective New Year’s Day, what followed felt at times like a blur of teaching, reading, writing, researching, consulting, traveling, and writing grant reports and proposals.

In the busyness of it all, it may seem difficult to find solitude, a lonely and quiet place to be with God and be refreshed, restored, and renewed for the days and nights ahead. I can operate in “scarcity” mode, bemoaning the lack of time to just be.

But re-framing with a paradigm of “abundance,” I find glimpses of grace and opportunities to experience solitude, making time to be present with and hear God, in the pattern of life. I reclaim moments throughout my day to see and sense God’s presence. Whether it is getting to work early to pray in quiet on the labyrinth in our campus reading room, running along the East River and gazing at the beauty of my city, meditating with the rhythm of my steps as I walk home from the subway, or practicing daily “examen” (recalling God’s presence through the emotions and events of the past 24 hours) at the end of the day with a candle and a cup of tea, I can have more.

I have time for solitude – to pray and to be with the One who is the source of joy and life, and time for community – to be with family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues – because I have a God who loves me with abundance, not scarcity.

Maria Liu Wong serves as Dean of City Seminary of New York in Harlem, NYC. She leads a women’s fellowship group and a newcomers’ Beta group with her husband Tony, and volunteers in the children’s ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church Downtown. Her research focuses on urban theological education, women and leadership, immigrant youth, diversity, and action research. She lives in the Lower East Side with her husband and three energetic little New Yorkers, and enjoys creating ways to make time and space for students, faculty (and herself!) to learn from and with each other.