Note the pattern: Jesus was with people, then He went to a solitary place where He prayed, then He was with people again. We see Jesus repeat this pattern over and over in the Gospels.

I love to take long hikes in Colorado. I take a solo trip every year. I enjoy the meadows. The clearings are respites. They are good opportunities to sit down, eat, look around and reflect.

Have you ever seen the TV show American Ninja Warrior? They have many obstacles on their courses, and they don’t have time to waste when moving from one thing to the next.

You’re always in a locker room full of teammates; a weight room; at practice; with coaches. The circumstances will look different depending on your sport, but the end result will probably be the same — as a currently competing athlete, you're constantly with people.

You need a meadow. You need a respite. You need a solitary place.

This is not to say you should live in constant isolation. It’s not saying, “It’s me and Jesus and that’s it,” because Jesus regularly communicates that our relationships with others are inseparable from our relationship with Him.

Maybe your life is so busy that you need to be intentional about going “off to a solitary place.” In order to be the person God made you to be, you need a respite. If Jesus needed a solitary place, how much do we?

In college I used to retreat to the basement of my dorm. I used to go for walks in town away from campus. Sometimes I played basketball in a park on the other side of town. Several years later I recall those moments as some of the richest times of college.

As an athlete, you know rest and recovery are just as important as training. You have scheduled days off. If you train, train, train, your body and mind will not be at their peak.

Maybe you are a “morning person,” maybe you are a “night owl.” Maybe you have a break every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Schedule a time to go off, as Jesus did, to a solitary place. You owe it to your family, friends and teammates to be the best version of yourself.