BESIDE STILL WATERS

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.”  (Psalm 23:1-3a NKJV)

Researchers once surveyed people about their favorite room in the house. The top answer was the kitchen. People love that one. Most husbands’ top answer was the bedroom. Want to guess what the top answer was for mothers of young children? The bathroom.

Why? You lock the door. You keep those little rug rats out of there for at least a couple of minutes. You keep your husband out of there for at least a couple of minutes. The idea is that you find some place where you know you are alone. You are free of stress. You find sanctuary -- a holy place.

God wants to give us sanctuary. There is another kind of presence when we are gathered together, but there is a unique way in which we experience the presence of God when we are alone.

I have one friend who finds this special solitude with God at a little Italian restaurant. Another friend experiences it most often while driving country roads. One finds it on airplanes. Another likes to go to a retreat center in the hills of Malibu Canyon. Still another finds it is the early hours of the morning in his office. You will recognize the place where you can be yourself before God. 

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”

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THE PUNCTUATION OF SILENCE AND SOLITUDE – Part 2 of 2

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  (Psalm 46:10 NIV)

If you have a magazine or newspaper handy, try reading any article without using the punctuation marks. It doesn’t make much sense does it? It all becomes a hectic string of words. The meaning is lost. It lacks direction. The purpose of punctuation in a piece of writing is to guide the reader into the true meaning of the words and phrases; through it we understand. Punctuation also gives life and purpose to the words. Next time you see your favorite actor or actress on television, notice how cleverly they use timing -- pauses and spaces -- to give the words their meaning and power.

Punctuation is a helpful way of thinking about Jesus’ relationship with silence and solitude. Jesus punctuated His life with silence and solitude. His times alone were the commas, pauses and full stops in the story of His life. They gave the rest of His life its structure, direction and balance. His words and His works were born out of those hours of silent waiting upon God…

Solitude is the place where the whole of our personality and being, seen and unseen, is drawn together in the transforming presence of God’s love. But more than that, the silence of solitude is the silence of eternity. We are drawn into the mystery of something bigger than ourselves. It places us, with all that God has made, in the heart of the Father’s love and presence. It is there that life is renewed, restored and given its true perspective. 

-- David Runcorn in “A Center of Quiet: Hearing God When Life Is Noisy,” 1990

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THE PUNCTUATION OF SILENCE AND SOLITUDE – Part 1 of 2

The disciples of Jesus discovered that regular withdrawal from people and activity was one predictable thing about Jesus. He made silence and solitude His special companions. Whatever the demands upon Him, Jesus always found a time and place to hide away and be alone. His hectic teaching and ministering was constantly punctuated by these times of withdrawal. Before all the most important events in His life we find Him preparing by getting alone. His ministry began in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). He chose His disciples after a whole night alone in prayer (Luke 6:12). When John the Baptist died Jesus spent time alone (Matthew 14:13). Before the glory of the transfiguration and darkness of the cross we find Him alone in prayer (Matthew 17:1-9 and 26:36-46). In those lonely places the deep springs of the Spirit’s life renewed Him, the Father’s will strengthened Him and the Father’s love inspired Him.

Jesus taught the disciples to do the same. After one particularly busy time of ministry and teaching He said, “’Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a lonely place” (Mark 6:31-32).

This was the secret of Jesus’ life. This was where He found strength to follow the Father’s will. When we follow Him we must copy not only His words and actions but His silence and moments of solitary withdrawing as well. If Jesus needed these times, then we certainly need them more! Like the disciples we follow Him into the desert places. And in our turn, we must learn from Him how to be alone and still. 

-- David Runcorn in “A Center of Quiet: Hearing God When Life Is Noisy,” 1990

#5946

IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING

“And in the same way -- by our faith -- the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words.”  (Romans 8:26 TLB)

In solitude, we come to know the Spirit who has already been given to us. The pains and struggles we encounter in our solitude thus become the way to hope, because our hope is not based on something that will happen after our sufferings are over, but on the real presence of God’s healing Spirit in the midst of these sufferings. 

-- Henri J. M. Nouwen in “Making All Things New”

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A RECEPTIVE ATTITUDE

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  (Psalm 46:10 NIV)

This solitude of heart goes beyond the domain of the withdrawn monk, hermit, or recluse. It acknowledges the importance of carving out time and space in our busy life to be alone and silent, to wait with a receptive attitude upon God. 

-- Judith C. Lechman

#4848

A PATH OF SIMPLICITY

Lent is the perfect season of the year for solitude and self-reflection. As we spiritually journey into the desert, Lent is a time to re-examine our boundary lines and get realigned, set in right relationship with God and the world around us. I would like to suggest a Lenten path to travel as the days grow longer and Easter approaches, the path of simplicity.


Simplicity is not about poverty, or a renunciation of possessions, or a set of "dos" or "don'ts."  Rather, simplicity is a spiritual discipline that re-orients one's life by deliberately organizing it around a central purpose. Adhering to a focused center reduces the fractured nature of our lives. Our priorities become aligned to the focus of our lives, and the way we live out our simplicity in terms of our time, energy, and money becomes a reflection of our inner beliefs. On the most basic level, simplicity means being honest and sincere with ourselves about our faith and what really matters most to us.


To walk the path of simplicity we must believe that God calls us to it. Lent invites us to journey in the way of Jesus by learning more about His way and applying it in our lives.


In the coming days of Lent, allow Christ's light to shine more brightly in your life and lead you into a path of simplicity that helps you re-orient your life toward God in Christ.


-- Ann Hagmann in Alive Now Magazine, March/April 2002, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.




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THE BENEFIT OF SOLITUDE

Solitude. Jesus engaged in it frequently. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus went to the wilderness for an extended period of fasting and prayer. He also went into solitude when He heard of the death of John the Baptist, when He was going to choose His disciples, after He had been involved in healing a leper, and after His followers had engaged in ministry. This pattern continued into the final days of His life, when again He withdrew into the solitude of the garden of Gethsemane to pray. He ended His ministry, as He began it, with the practice of solitude.

Jesus taught His followers to do the same. And as He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place," He says to us still. Wise followers of Christ's way have always understood the necessity and benefit of solitude. It is, to quote an old phrase, the "furnace of transformation."

-- John Ortberg in The Life You've Always Wanted


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