Seeing Solitude
“And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.”
The Lenten season is one of my favorite times of the year. It is a reflective time - and a time of spiritual renewal. Lent is the time for remembering the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, with a special focus on his suffering and the meaning of the cross.
Jesus himself took time to be alone and to pray. He knew well the necessity of recharging his spiritual batteries. Quiet times of solitude bring renewal. But what is solitude? Solitude, in part, is meditation - it is seeking out God’s will for our lives. It is getting away from the fast pace of our busy, busy lives for a little while. Solitude is being alone, but not lonely.
Richard Foster, in his book Celebration of Discipline, contrasts loneliness and solitude, pointing out how we are prone to confuse the two.
“Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.
Solitude is not a place but a state of mind and heart.”
Loneliness is feeling totally alone!
Solitude is spending time alone…with God. It is opening ourselves so that God can fill the emptiness within. There are many ways of being in solitude. One of the ways I find most helpful is reading scripture. I like to read at least one of the gospels all the way through during Lent – and pause periodically to sit quietly and reflect. This year I am reading Mark. It draws me closer to the life, death, and meaning of our resurrected Lord. I hope that all of us will take time this Lenten season to be alone with God right in the midst of whatever else is happening in our lives and the world.
With all the violence, war, disasters, and disease pervading our globe – finding a place of stillness in the storm of life is good for our souls and can help us direct our prayer life toward God’s compassion and peace when things seem so helpless and hopeless.
A great pianist was once asked by an admirer, “How do you handle the notes as well as you do?” The artist replied, “The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes – ahh! …that is where the true art resides”
Indeed, it is in the pauses of life that we find spiritual renewal and energizing! I hope you will pause from time to time during this Lenten season for moments of solitude to be alone – when God might fill you with what is needed in your faith life.
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for
the salvation of the lord.”
Lamentations 3:25 & 26
In the Fulfillment of God,
Rev. Dr. David D. Young
Senior Minister