Solitude

pumpkin maple candle

You need to try it, at least once a year.

A coffee shop is a good place to go, or a graveyard; or any other quiet place where people don’t expect much of you and are more or less unlikely to strike up lengthy conversations.

It’s good for every man to lay down his accessories from time to time—the add-ons that start feeling like identity. A phone, a job, a position, a persona. Lay it down. Lay down the cooking spatula and the dusting rag, lay down the little child always on the lap.

Come apart and rest.

If the thought of being alone for several hours with no resources and no periphery is terribly exciting, you might be due. Likewise if it’s terrifying. And perhaps most of all if it’s just silly, because you don’t need it and you’re doing just fine, thank you. Then you’re really due.

You may read. You may pray. You may write. You may sit and do nothing.

It’s good to remember there’s an inner person who can be distinguished from the outer, a Being who isn’t about Doing, an entity of its own. It’s good to bring that entity into silence before the Father.

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Marie
10 years ago

Did you hear some distant thunder? It was a Menno lady in Guys mills affirming your words!

Kendra
10 years ago

I want this, and yet, yes, I do find it difficult and frightening to Be Still. I’m finding that it takes practice to surrender to the vulnerability of silence. But I want it. I needed to hear this just now.

Mama Zook
10 years ago

“come apart” (Jesus’ words) before you come apart! All of us need that quiet occasionally. Some of us are more blessed with it right now because we are in a different chapter of life.

Christine
10 years ago

I love this…..I would write more but I’m off to the graveyard. (=

Brenda Troyer
10 years ago

I am 41 and this is one lesson I have finally learned. Because of my personality it was a long time in coming…

10 years ago

This is sooooo true. Because I’m an introvert I love the quiet of alone time and the restoration it brings to my soul. A friend and I were talking recently of how these times of quiet sometimes bring to the surface emotions and issues we didn’t realize were still simmering (smoldering..?) 🙂 deep in our hearts. Even though it can bring hard things, it is also a place for Jesus to speak to us and bring healing.

Jenn B.
10 years ago

I get this! And altho I’d never want to go back, I think this is the thing I miss most about my pre-wife and mama years…time to truly BE ALONE with my thoughts. Especially while out doors, enjoying nature. Those were (and are, if I can ever manage it) the times that I “feel” closest to my Father.

10 years ago

I love quiet time but being a mom leaves very little of that when you have early risers and late night owls. Maybe some day there will be more of it for me. 🙂

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