Have you found your quiet place?

He was considered a hero by his supporters and was respected among his peers. He stood for what he believed in, not wavering; even as he climbed the ladder to prominence. His light was however dimmed because of a disagreement. A disagreement that would see him exiled to the countryside. He was forced to isolate from his former lifestyle. No longer part of the elite he lived among the commoners.

Deng Xiaoping, during his exile, saw how the citizens of China were poor and suffering. It was truly a tough situation. “When I was growing up hunger always haunted me,” Madam Fu Ying, former ambassador to the United Kingdom once described her childhood. Deng witnessed it first-hand and had time to think about himself and his people. He knew and understood that the priority of a leader at that time in China would be to lift people out of poverty.

In 1976, Mao who had exiled Deng after their disagreement over ideology died. Deng saw an opportunity to claw back into the countries leadership and did so. He was now in a position to effect change but faced the challenge of transforming the mindset of hardliners who supported Mao.

Deng’s exile was not in vain. It made him learn through observation and experience. It gifted him time to crystalize his ideas, which would later come in handy when he was back in the country's top leadership. His vision was refined and his ideas polished. Never was this evident than in December 1978 when he gave a short keynote speech to 200 delegates from all over China at the Jingxi Hotel. In a room that was split over which course the country should take his speech left most convinced. Deng’s changes started the process that led to the biggest lifting of people out of poverty that has ever taken place in human history.

China started to open up to the world, rediscover the world and learn from the world. A sharp contrast to the fifteenth century, where China had embarked on one of the biggest overseas exploration missions. These expeditions yielded hubris where China saw the rest of the world as barbaric. An imperial decree would then decommission the great navy, construction of seagoing ships was stopped and the iron industry gradually declined.

Deng was forced to look at his reality in a different way. He was placed in a situation he had to see and feel what others were going through. Away from a fast-paced political life, he had a conducive environment to think.

Jeremiah 17:9

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

It is not guaranteed that when we are alone, we will come up with great ideas. Our inner voice can make us think of scenarios that are not beneficial. The heart of man is deceitful and often we deceive ourselves. Even with Deng’s transformational ideas, there were chinks in the armour.

John 16:13

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will only speak what he hears, and he will tell you of things to come.

I hope in our quiet time and quiet place we will invite God to be with us. That is the only way to avoid the pitfall of deceiving ourselves. I hope we will not be like the Ming dynasty, which made China isolate itself from learning with the false belief that they were above all. Quiet time should not come from a place of arrogance where you avoid others because you think they have nothing to offer. It should be from a place of humility where you need to audit your actions and plan for the future. Finally, I hope you’ve found your quiet place.