The Benefits of Solitude and SIlence
The hermitage I stayed in.
Richard Foster, Leslie Newbign, Dallas Willard, Eugene Peterson, Mirozlov Volf and Henri Nouwen.
The writing of these men have been hugely formative in my spiritual life and in the life of my ministry. I just finished WIllard's book "The Great Omission". It is a collection of past essays he has written on the lack of discipleship in contemporary Christianity. It is a great book.
He makes several references to the necessity for solitude and silence in the life of Christian, and in the life of leaders. Since, I fall into both categories - Christian and leader, I paid attention.
And I tried it out. Last Friday, I checked into a hermitage at a local Catholic retreat center. A hermitage is a small living space set aside for monastics who have chosen to live a life of solitude from the rest of society. Other terms include Poustina or Ashram.
The hermitage I went to was a small 1 room house with a bed, a desk, a comfortable chair for reading and a washroom. Basic, but comfortable.
I was booked in from 9-5. I found that I was quite tired when I got there, so after reading my Bible and praying for a bit, I went to sleep. I think I slept for almost 2 hours. I spoke with a spiritual director who conducts personal retreats for busy executives. These retreats are for 3 days at a time, and she said that on the first day, most people simply sleep! An accumulation of fatigue is released. She said this is entirely appropriate, and is a means of ministering to the needs of your physical body for rest.
So I didn't feel guilty about sleeping. After the nap, I went for a short walk on the grounds of the campus of the surrounding retreat center. I came back and read and prayed some more. I fasted over lunch.
In the afternoon I did some long term planning - planned out some goals - both personal and for the church. It was quite productive and fruitful.
I concluded the day with more prayer and meditation.
The benefits of solitude and silence are manifold. I live a life where I hear a lot of noise, and I hear a lot of voices. I hear the voices of my community, the church and of my family. I hear noise from the tv, itunes and the media. What happens is that the noise has the potential of drowning out the "still small voice" of the Spirit.
So, you need to get to a place where you can hear from God. And this place is most often found in solitude and silence. John Stott said the most beneficial thing that he did in his many years of fruitful, global ministry is to take a Quiet day once a month. This was a day where he drove to a church member's home on the other side of London. They provided a small room with a desk for him to work undisturbed. He would spend the day in prayer and planning for the coming month. He says he would recommend that every pastor follow his example in this particular practice.
I'm going to take him up on it. I might not go to the hermitage every month, but I am sure I can find a room in someone's home or office where I can work undisturbed for 1 day a month.
Incidentally, you are probably asking - why can't you just do this at home or in your own office. Why do you have to physically go somewhere else. That's a good question. The reason is that I believe something happens when we are physically dislocated from the usual routine and locale that we live and work in. This is why business go on corporate retreats - of course they could do many of the same things in their offices - but the leaders see the benefit of going away. It helps you focus on the matter at hand, rather than falling back into comfortable routines of work.
So, if you are a Christian, or a leader, or both - take one day out next week to live in solitude and silence and see what happens.
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