Henri Nouwen writes that the words that Jesus spoke in the nearby villages were born in the intimacy with the Father. They were words of comfort and of condemnation, words of hope and of warning, words of unity and division. He dared to speak these challenging words because he did not seek his own glory: We read in John, “If I were to seek my own glory,” he says, “my glory would be worth nothing; in fact, my glory is conferred by the Father, by the one of whom you say ‘He is our God,’ although you do not know him.” Within a few years, Jesus’ words brought about his rejection and death. But the one who had spoken to him in the lonely place raised him up as a sign of hope and new life. When you can create a lonely place in the middle of your actions and concerns, your successes and failures slowly can lose some of their power over you. For then, your love for this world can merge with a compassionate understanding of its illusions. Then, your serious engagement can merge with an unmasking smile. Then, your concern for others can be motivated more by their needs than your own. In short, then you can care. Let us, therefore, live our lives to the fullest, but let us not forget to once in a while get up long before dawn to leave the house and go to a lonely place.