Solitude

Fridays are usually my day off. But today, thanks to the graciousness of my wife and kids, I took a day of solitude instead. To be honest, the pressures of mission and church planting and leadership development have been heavy on my soul lately. I needed a day alone with Jesus.

Many thanks to the monks at St. Benedict Center in Schuyler, Nebraska, for creating a place of sacred rest. I am no friend of Roman Catholic theology. But their value for Sabbath and solitude and retreat, and their sublime ability to create spaces that reflect those values, is unsurpassed. I only hope missional Protestants can recapture a theology of rest and renewal. Lord knows we need it.

I did not use my vocal chords all day, apart from the obligatory greetings to the staff and monks I passed in the hallways. Some random reflections:

• How much of our conversation is utterly trivial!
• Silence is deeply spiritual; talk keeps us from having to solemnly consider our own mortality
• Silence and solitude are more refreshing to the soul than all the playful diversions that we consider “recreation”
• We are addicted to noise and music and friends and television and work. All our busyness and conversation keeps us from “meeting with God in adoring silence” (Tozer)
• We are awash in information, yet most of us lack the ability to converse thoughtfully and meaningfully about the things of God. Could it be that our lack of solitude and prayerful silence affects our ability to “filter” and process the information all around us?

Thanks, wife and kids, for the day of retreat. And thanks, people of Coram Deo, for valuing the deep things of spiritual leadership. I trust I will be a more effective and Christ-centered leader as I spend less time doing and more time being with Jesus.