Feeling a little overwhelmed by the holiday hustle and bustle? If you're like most it does not take just the holidays to keep your life hectic. The Psalms 46 command to "be still and know that I am God" gets lost in the swirl of the Christmas crush.
How do you survive and keep the your faith growing? Silence and solitude, the antidote for our Western culture.
Master’s Invitation
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
Disciplines of Silence and Solitude
Solitude—We purposefully abstain from interaction with other human beings, denying ourselves companionship and all that comes from our conscious interaction with others.
Silence—We close off our souls from “sounds,” whether those sounds be noise, music, or words.
What is Solitude?
Though often unaware of it, we have a need for solitude & silence. Jesus calls us from loneliness to solitude.
Loneliness:
· Inner emptiness
· Our fear of being alone drives us to noise and crowds.
Solitude:
· inner fulfillment
· state of mind and heart,
· Not a place, a portable sanctuary of the heart
Let him who cannot be alone beware of community....
Let him who is not in community beware of being alone....
Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Is Silence Golden?
· Silence is hard for us to do because it makes us feel helpless.
· Who is going to speak up for us if we do not?
· How are we going to make others do what we want them to do unless we tell them until they do it?
· How are others going to know how to interpret my actions unless I tell them what I meant by what I did?
· Silence is intimately related to trust
-"Real Silence, real stillness, really holding one's tongue comes only as the sober consequence of spiritual stillness." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Steps to Take
· Little moments of solitude during our day
· Find or develop a "quiet place"
Self observation:
· Is our speech a frantic attempt to explain or justify our actions?
· Are our words few and full?
· Can we communicate without words?
Personal retreat:
· 3-4 hours (an evening) once a quarter
· recalibrate your life direction (1 & 10 yr goals)
· Listen to the thunder of God's silence - "listen to God's speech in his wonderous, terrible, gentle, loving, all-embracing silence."
-"It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them....Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say."
-Thomas Merton
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
Disciplines of Silence and Solitude
Solitude—We purposefully abstain from interaction with other human beings, denying ourselves companionship and all that comes from our conscious interaction with others.
Silence—We close off our souls from “sounds,” whether those sounds be noise, music, or words.
What is Solitude?
Though often unaware of it, we have a need for solitude & silence. Jesus calls us from loneliness to solitude.
Loneliness:
· Inner emptiness
· Our fear of being alone drives us to noise and crowds.
Solitude:
· inner fulfillment
· state of mind and heart,
· Not a place, a portable sanctuary of the heart
Let him who cannot be alone beware of community....
Let him who is not in community beware of being alone....
Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Is Silence Golden?
· Silence is hard for us to do because it makes us feel helpless.
· Who is going to speak up for us if we do not?
· How are we going to make others do what we want them to do unless we tell them until they do it?
· How are others going to know how to interpret my actions unless I tell them what I meant by what I did?
· Silence is intimately related to trust
-"Real Silence, real stillness, really holding one's tongue comes only as the sober consequence of spiritual stillness." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Steps to Take
· Little moments of solitude during our day
· Find or develop a "quiet place"
Self observation:
· Is our speech a frantic attempt to explain or justify our actions?
· Are our words few and full?
· Can we communicate without words?
Personal retreat:
· 3-4 hours (an evening) once a quarter
· recalibrate your life direction (1 & 10 yr goals)
· Listen to the thunder of God's silence - "listen to God's speech in his wonderous, terrible, gentle, loving, all-embracing silence."
-"It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them....Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say."
-Thomas Merton
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