But that's choosing an "outer" place to be with God. What about our "inner" place? How do we prepare our heart/soul for a conversation with and a listening to God? Jesus gives us a suggestion:
"But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Now at first glance, it seems as if Jesus is really limiting the places where we're supposed to pray. Only in my room? we ask. But that's not what Jesus means. The word which is translated into "room" in English really refers to a specific place: a storeroom, larder, or pantry. "This was the room, in an ancient Middle Eastern house, which was totally enclosed inside a building with no windows. The purpose of such a space in a culture which had neither central heating nor refrigeration was to ensure that perishable food stored in it would be less susceptible to extremes of either cold or heat. It also meant that once you had shut the door from the inside, you could neither see out, nor be seen." (James Alison, in "Jesus the Forgiving Victim.")
Neither you nor I have a room precisely like the one Jesus is describing. But there are aspects of this room that we can duplicate.
So let's look at "room" from a psychological/spiritual perspective. Jesus is asking us to go, in our hearts and souls, to a place inside ourselves where we can neither see other people nor be seen by other people. To psychologically separate ourselves from the people in our lives, because they're the ones who are always telling us who we are. The people who love us. The people who dislike us. The people who think that we're saints. The people who know that we're not. The people who praise us. The people who find fault with us.
Because you know what? None of the people in our lives know the entirety of who we are - really. But they have tremendous influence on our perceptions of who we are. So let's forget about them for a while. Let's forget their voices in our heads that we can react to so strongly. Let's place all our attention on God. Because God knows us. Really knows us - every thought, word, and deed. We can't hide from God's estimate of who we are. Nor should we want to! God not only knows who we are now. God knows who we can become. God is the only One Who knows our identity and can call us into deeper and deeper being.
God knows all the desires we have for the person we can become. God also knows all those unjust voices in our heads that want to "shoot down" those desires: "Who do you think that you are, to want to become like that?" "Don't believe you can be that, or you'll be disappointed." God has given us all these personal gifts and talents; I really think that's why Jesus describes the room inside us as a pantry, or storeroom, the place where all those precious items are kept. Our hearts and souls are storerooms where all the gifts of our personalities and temperaments as well as the gifts of the Holy Spirit for us are being carefully kept, just waiting for us to bring them out and use them.
But God needs for us to take time every day to be quiet and set apart mentally and spiritually from everyone and everything else. Only then are we free enough to hear His voice, calling us into truer and truer identity. To hear God's voice, and not someone else's voice! God's voice isn't the voice of those who have blamed and shamed us, called us to live up to impossibly rigid standards. God's voice also isn't the voice of those who praise us and tell us we're so wonderful that we begin to believe those press releases that we're the hero they think we are. God's voice is the great Leveler, acknowledging our faults, weaknesses, kindnesses and love, and above all telling us about our potential for greatness.
The room Jesus describes is also a room which is less susceptible to the extremes of heat or cold. A strange thing can happen to us if we've placed ourselves alone in an inner room with God, away from the influences of other people. We're not susceptible to feeling the heat of anger directed at others. We're not susceptible to feeling the coldness of hatred for others. We're being held in the perfect, balanced temperature of God's love and regard for us.
In this perfect, balanced space in God's Presence, we know that only God's loving gaze holding us is what matters. We don't need to be consumed by anger. We don't need to be possessed by hatred. Nothing and No one matters except God and God's passionate love for us. We know that God feels neither anger nor hatred because God is perfect Love. Held in God's loving embrace our hearts are widened and deepened so that we too can become wider and deeper Love for others.
Every day, be committed to time with God. Give yourself time and space away from others, relaxing with God. Be quiet inside, welcoming Him. You may only have five minutes; you may have an hour. Forget your spouse, your children, your relatives, your friends, your enemies. Forget what they think of you. Instead, ask God what God thinks of you. His voice will be quiet. You may only sense a feeling, an affirmation, or receive a sudden blaze of enlightenment. A peaceful powerful certainty that yes, you can become that person you dream of becoming. But even if you sense nothing, by looking at God's face, being receptive to his voice in your life, you give God permission to work within you in secret.
What is your soul's deepest desire? To be all that you can be? That's to become a saint. You can ask, over and over, to become a saint, and that allows God, in the weeks, months, and years ahead, to show you exactly what being a saint means for you, just you. God will guide you, lead you, on a journey. Don't underestimate yourself. Above all, don't underestimate God. He will do it - if, out of desire, you continually go inside yourself, away from all who would distract you, to be together, just God and you. If you are away from all that you are not, God can reward you by presenting you with - you.