Coming to faith in the God of all goodness and grace is the beginning of a long journey of growth and transformation. And there are many contours on this road. There are setbacks and doubts as well. But there are also the points of renewal and hope.
One of the elements in the moment of season of renewal is the practice of the discipline of solitude. At its most basic level this is a growing awareness of the need to be still and to become attentive to the voice of God and the movement of the spirirt within us.
This is the opposite of how we most frequently function. We are active. We are busy. We know what we should do and so we live life in full stride. And we pray that God will bless all our endeavours.
But there are times when this all becomes very uncertain. We are no longer sure that what we are doing is worthwhile. And we are no longer sure that God is blessing us.
Since newfound hope and purpose can’t simply be grasped out of thin air, the only way forward in times of doubt and uncertainty is to stop and to wait. And this can become the starting point for entering into a season of the careful practice of solitude.
While the practice of solitude should be part of the normal rhythm of our lives, it becomes particularly important and pressing in times of difficulty and need.
Entering into solitude is making a break with our more normal existence. It comes from a recognition that not all is well and we need to find new bread for the journey of faith.
Moving from activity to stillness and from stillness to solitude is a move towards a new attentiveness to God and a new openness to God’s spirit.
The outcome of this new attentiveness, while it may be to affirm the familiar, is often transformational. God encounters us and speaks to us in ways we have not anticipated.
Henri Nouwen suggested that “solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusion of the false self.”
The reason the practice of solitude can be so transformational is that solitude distances us from our own activities and preoccupations and brings us close to the seeking and renewing heart of God.
The God who speaks in the silence of our hearts is the God who seeks to make us whole and to guide us in the paths of righteousness.
God draws near to those who seek, wait and pray. And God’s closeness is always one of embrace and empowerment. In that embrace we may see ourselves and the world very differently. As the beloved of God our insecurities may fall away. And as those guided in the ways of God we may see life’s circumstances and our world in the light of God’s presence.
Solitude is the framework for the gift of comtemplation, and a radical reorientation is so frequently the gift that God gives. No longer do the old ways define and shape us, but God’s gracious presence opens the way for newfound hope, love and direction.
Transformation is not the gift of those who grasp but the blessing of those who wait for God to move the waters.
P. 26-27 Hear the heart Beat with Henri Nouwen, by Charles R. Ringma, published 2006 in Great Britain, by Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, bought in St. John’s Cathedral bookshop, Garden Road, Hong Kong
