My Twins: Solitude and Silence
At the age of 35, I became father to twins, after years of waiting, praying, hoping God would give us children. They looked alike. They were always together . I loved living with twins. Later, too late, another set of twins were born to me: Solitude and Silence. They grew on me too.
These twins are the queens of all soul training exercises (Christian disciplines). They are the best training for godliness I have discovered. They are the footing for prayer, Bible study and memory work . They train the soul for the long highway of holiness. They lighten the burdens of life.
I know this: When I am irritable, angry, lonely, or busy, I need these twins around me. These conditions are telltale signs, my soul needs care and renovation.
How do these twins help?
They refocus my life on Christ. Any godly leader, successful in ministry (faithful and true) has adopted these twins. Ask around. You’ll see .
Solitude means to be alone and do nothing for lengthy periods of time. We constantly need to break the grip of our God-alienated world on us. The world entraps us at the level of our various habits and preoccupations. Solitude and silence are grip looseners.
By practicing silence, we eliminate the non-stop social media noise. Even the noise of our own mouth. When silence descends, dew like, anger takes a nap! Irritation subsides…
Solitude and silence are God’s twin gifts to us in this noisy and crowded world.
I remind you, in the Gospels we see Jesus combining these disciplines regularly. Habitually, he would go into lonely places to be present before God, pray, and pay attention to his own soul. The twins cemented his hold on the eternal life he came to lavish on us.
In imitation of him, we cultivate an intimate friendship with silence and solitude. We too become free to move into the life that is eternal. Jesus practiced these intensely and extensively.You do well to imitate him in order to become like him (Luke 6:40).
COVID 19 is doing a number on us. It has altered the way we see ourselves. It has revealed aspects of our character we now know are in desperate need of repair.
This microscopic bug, because of “forced isolation”, has exposed our need to repent of sins that lurked beneath the surface of our lives . Like pride, anger, and a spirit of divisiveness.
I hope we have rediscovered rooms in our castles (our thoughts, feelings, spirit, will) where only God should belong. Worry, individualism, a divisive spirit, bondage to our desires and wills have surfaced. They’re the tip of the iceberg! We deal with them or crash and perish like the Titanic. We handle this oppression with the twin gifts of silence and solitude before God.
Silence and solitude require lengthy times and extreme intensity to do their work. Don’t become a monk tomorrow. Ease gently into them. Don’t be heroic! Start with 5 minutes. Gradually increase.
David said, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”[ But remember, he said previously, “He leads me near quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Enjoy the freedom.
God says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, … (Isa 30:15 NIV). Solitude. Silence. Unbeknownst to us, maybe, are part of the answer of our troubled times.