War Cry - March, 2015 Page 18

The War Cry | MARCH 2015

Seek Solitude

Have you ever noticed that most of the life-chang-

ing experiences of people in the Bible occurred when
they were alone? Moses was alone on a mountain
when he saw the burning bush. Jacob sent his
entourage across the Jabbok and was left alone,
where he wrestled with God until daybreak.
Joshua encountered the captain of the Lord's
host when he was alone by the Jordan River.

Elijah heard the still, small voice while

alone in a desert cave. Peter was alone

on a rooftop and John was in a cave on

the island of Patmos when they each

had important prayer experiences.

Henri Nouwen once wrote, "God dwells only

where man steps back to give him room."

Solitude

is a way of doing that. If you are an introvert, you
already crave such moments. If you are an extro-
vert, finding solitude will be crucial to creating
the soil and climate in which prayer can grow
and flourish in your life. You don't have to find
large swaths of time to be utterly alone with no
human contact. Jacob and Joshua both managed
to step away from the activity of a large campsite.
Peter's rooftop retreat may have been one of only
a few places he could find solitude in the busy
port city of Joppa.

Like them, you may need to step away from a

family gathering or a busy workplace to grab a
little solitude in the course of your daily life. A
friend of mine takes a noontime jog every workday
not only for the exercise but also for the solitude it

Henri Nouwen, The Genesee Diary, p. 170.

offers. Another friend bought a small boat so he
would have a place to retreat regularly from the
pressures of life and ministry. You may be able
to go to a spare room, workshop or park bench.
Or maybe you can just turn off your phone and
shut down the computer from time to time and
let things go dark and quiet.

Attain Silence

I once became so frustrated with my own

prayerlessness that I scheduled a four-day silent
prayer retreat at a monastery in Kentucky. There
I encountered the Rule of St. Benedict, which de-
mands silence, and the

opus Dei (work of God) that

constitutes the rhythm of the monks' lives. They
meet for prayer seven times a day every day. I de-
termined that, for the first twenty-four hours, at
least, I would follow that rhythm, speaking only
in worship and prayer and being silent otherwise.

On day two, I went to lunch with the others,

monks and non-monks alike. I silently walked
down the staircase from the sanctuary to the din-
ing room, silently filed through the cafeteria line,
silently filled my tray with food, silently walked to
an empty chair and silently sat down. And then,
when I bowed my head over my tray to say grace,
I realized I was already praying. I'd been praying
on the stairs, in the cafeteria line, as I filled my
tray with food, as I walked to an empty chair and
as I sat down. I'd been praying since the moment I
awoke that morning. Less than one full day into
the silent rhythm of that community, I
experienced the literal fulfillment of the Bible's
command to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalo-
nians 5:17, KJV).

Silence, in short snatches or long stretches,

will grow and blossom into prayer like nothing
else. It will foster two-way communication with
God. It will surprise you and change you. Together
with going slower and seeking solitude, attaining
silence can be the means by which God calls forth
new growth in your life this spring. Those simple
seeds can be an answer to your heart's longing.
As

The Message paraphrase of the Bible puts it:

"God, make a fresh start in me" (Psalm 51:10,

The Message).

Bob Hostetler is a writer whose 37 books include
The Red Letter Life and the upcoming The Red Letter
Prayer Life (due to be released April 1).

Silence,

in short snatches or

long stretches, will

grow and blossom into

prayer like nothing else.

It will foster two-way

communication

with God.