Week 5 - Silence & Solitude (Part 1)
Checking In
How has your time practicing The Daily Office been going? What aspects have you found to be difficult? What have you discovered about yourself? I have found that as I press in to the spiritual practices...the enemy tries every trick in his repertoire to pull me out. Stay focused. Take some deep breaths and keep pressing in. The reward is in disciplining your body, mind, and spirit...with fixing your eyes on your Savior...with abiding when everything else around you is in a hurry. The war for your soul is real and the race ahead is long.
1 Corinthians 9: 24-27 (ESV)
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every uathlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
A Quick Challenge
Two weeks ago my family and I had an opportunity to go up to a lake house with extended family. It was a beautiful little spot in the small town of Hardy, Arkansas. There is something about being on the water that just quiets my soul. What I loved about this lake experience is that it wasn't a huge reservoir like Lake Lewisville. This was a grouping of 3 small(ish) lakes that had narrow canals connecting them.
How has your time practicing The Daily Office been going? What aspects have you found to be difficult? What have you discovered about yourself? I have found that as I press in to the spiritual practices...the enemy tries every trick in his repertoire to pull me out. Stay focused. Take some deep breaths and keep pressing in. The reward is in disciplining your body, mind, and spirit...with fixing your eyes on your Savior...with abiding when everything else around you is in a hurry. The war for your soul is real and the race ahead is long.
1 Corinthians 9: 24-27 (ESV)
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every uathlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
A Quick Challenge
Two weeks ago my family and I had an opportunity to go up to a lake house with extended family. It was a beautiful little spot in the small town of Hardy, Arkansas. There is something about being on the water that just quiets my soul. What I loved about this lake experience is that it wasn't a huge reservoir like Lake Lewisville. This was a grouping of 3 small(ish) lakes that had narrow canals connecting them.
These lakes were small, but they were big enough to ski and boat on. So as you are picturing these lakes, picture lots of activity and fun being had with families boating and old men fishing on the 4th of July weekend. One morning I got out on the water in a canoe to go exploring. I wanted to canoe through one of the canals to the other lake. I knew I needed to paddle straight across the big water to find the canal. As I was paddling, boats were flying past me creating really big waves. So big that at one point I thought the canoe might tip over. I kept paddling toward the canal. As I got closer I began to see little signs sticking up out of the water. Signs I saw as I was leaving the dock of the lake house.
These signs simply said..."NO WAKE."
These signs simply said..."NO WAKE."
I've never been more thankful to see a sign in my life!
I was getting beaten to death by the wake the boats were leaving behind. Were the boats in the wrong? Not at all. It was an area where you had freedom to do basically anything you wanted. You could go as fast as you wanted. You could ski and tube. You could blast any kind of music you wanted. You could speed from point "A" to point "B," or you could leisurely coast across the lake looking for the best fishing spot. Hurry and a sense of living without limits was on full display in this area of the lake.
NO WAKE
As I entered that "NO WAKE" zone a sense of peace and calm came over me. The waters calmed down and I was no longer clinging to the side of the canoe trying to steady the boat. After I coasted in to this area I saw the entrance to the canal. It was everything I hoped it would be. It was the ultimate "NO WAKE" zone.
I was getting beaten to death by the wake the boats were leaving behind. Were the boats in the wrong? Not at all. It was an area where you had freedom to do basically anything you wanted. You could go as fast as you wanted. You could ski and tube. You could blast any kind of music you wanted. You could speed from point "A" to point "B," or you could leisurely coast across the lake looking for the best fishing spot. Hurry and a sense of living without limits was on full display in this area of the lake.
NO WAKE
As I entered that "NO WAKE" zone a sense of peace and calm came over me. The waters calmed down and I was no longer clinging to the side of the canoe trying to steady the boat. After I coasted in to this area I saw the entrance to the canal. It was everything I hoped it would be. It was the ultimate "NO WAKE" zone.
Inside this area the water was like glass. There were no waves in sight. I could hear the birds and other sounds of nature. The hurry and noise of life had no place here...because it was a "NO WAKE" zone.
The Spiritual Practices of Silence and Solitude are essentially a "NO WAKE" sign for your soul.
The "NO WAKE" signs in the lake didn't just grow randomly out of the lake. They were put there intentionally for the purpose of protection. On a lake, a "NO WAKE" sign provides an area of reprieve and calm. As we begin to study the practices of Silence and Solitude, I want you to spend some time this week considering how you might intentionally place some "NO WAKE" signs in your life. This will take time. It will mean having conversations with the people you love. Some people won't understand why. To the world around us a "NO WAKE" sign = "NO FUN." The perception of busyness and productivity is celebrated. The digital world is continuously closing in. Boats are wizzing by and the waves are huge. But the quiet voice of God is calling out to you. A voice that wants to lead you, and guide you, and commune with you. I will spend next week exploring the important disciplines of silence and solitude and how you can fully engage and incorporate them into your life with Jesus.
Until then, I want you to find one 15 minute time slot in your week where you can sit in silence in a place that is removed from the hurry of life and just listen to what God has to say to you about you. No other agenda. No need to talk to God.
Just listen.
The Spiritual Practices of Silence and Solitude are essentially a "NO WAKE" sign for your soul.
The "NO WAKE" signs in the lake didn't just grow randomly out of the lake. They were put there intentionally for the purpose of protection. On a lake, a "NO WAKE" sign provides an area of reprieve and calm. As we begin to study the practices of Silence and Solitude, I want you to spend some time this week considering how you might intentionally place some "NO WAKE" signs in your life. This will take time. It will mean having conversations with the people you love. Some people won't understand why. To the world around us a "NO WAKE" sign = "NO FUN." The perception of busyness and productivity is celebrated. The digital world is continuously closing in. Boats are wizzing by and the waves are huge. But the quiet voice of God is calling out to you. A voice that wants to lead you, and guide you, and commune with you. I will spend next week exploring the important disciplines of silence and solitude and how you can fully engage and incorporate them into your life with Jesus.
Until then, I want you to find one 15 minute time slot in your week where you can sit in silence in a place that is removed from the hurry of life and just listen to what God has to say to you about you. No other agenda. No need to talk to God.
Just listen.