#5 (spend reflective time) Alone

How often do we really allow ourselves to just... be? Alone... what a hard, hard thing to do.  For anyone. Many of the places we go and the things we do are to avoid being alone, ever. Even God said "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18). But there is a difference between alone-solitude and alone-lonely, and we need to learn to separate the two definitions.

Everyone needs some degree of alone time to rejuvenate. The problem is, our society grows us up with the subconscious understanding/belief that being busy means being important, and being important means being acceptable. But ACCEPTABLE TO WHOM!?!?! I've spent a good portion of my life and exhausted most of my resources aiming to be accepted by people. Even when it happens, it's not fulfilling, because it's only temporary. And in the meantime I become so busy I can't even keep my days straight, and my caffeine addiction becomes more necessary. No matter what "busy" looks like in your life, it will eventually exhaust you if you do not allow time for solitude.

Henry Nouwen says that "To bring solitude in to our lives is one of the most necessary but also most difficult disciplines. Even though we may have a deep desire for real solitude, we also experience a certain apprehension as we approach that solitary place and time. As soon as we are alone.... an inner chaos opens up in us. ...when we have removed our outer distractions, we often find that our inner distractions manifest themselves to us in full force. We often use our distractions to shield ourselves from the interior noises. It is thus not surprising that we have a difficult time being alone. The confrontation with our inner conflicts can be too painful for us to endure."

True loneliness is the naked terror of standing alone and being confronted with the chasm between God and me, knowing I cannot cross over. The fall of man created a fundamental division in the essence of man, between the bodies and the consciousness. This division has caused us to take our focus off of God and put it onto ourselves; at our nakedness, at our undone-ness. There is nothing is lonelier than this realization. Adam sinned and went to death a divided man, and Jesus rose from death undivided and sinless. Accepting this helps us find real humanity at last, where we can forget our nakedness, see God's face, and live.  --excerpts from Athol Dickson The Gospel According to Moses


I tried to have alone/ solitude time last night. Tried and failed. All the chaos, the stress, the worries, the hopes, the disappointments..... everything started to rise and I became so overwhelmed that eventually all I could do was just hug my Bible and empty my mind as I drifted into a restful sleep. I guess solitude can look different to different people and in different circumstances. My mind always seems to wander from one unimportant thought to the next. Lord help me to find daily solitude and rest in you, alone.

It is a simple, though not easy, way to free us from the slavery of our occupations and preoccupations and to begin to hear the voice that makes all things new. -Henri J.M. Nouwen



Take time today to sit quietly and reflect on what is important to you.

Let us all strive, hand-in-hand, for holy simplicity.