Solitunity: 1/7-8/2012

"Whoever cannot be alone should beware of community.  Whoever cannot stand being in community should beware of being alone."-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Whether or not we spend time in Solitude can drastically affect our relationships with others and with God.  Solitude can be as simple as starting your day or a moment with a word of thanks towards God.  It can be as involved as a day of quiet, or retreat.  It is the practice of regularly paying attention to God.

Kathleen Norris is an author and spiritual thinker who sometimes visits elementary schools to help kids develop creatively.  She was leading kids through an exercise and asked them to describe silence.  One of the kids wrote:  "Silence is remembering to take your soul with you wherever you go."

We think Solitude can also help us to know that God is with us wherever we go.

Over the next several weeks, we encourage you to join us in the "5 Minute-5 Week-5 S Challenge."

Take a look around your life.  Where and when can you have an altar?  Where can you go to worship God and silence the noise for part of your day?  When can you fully engage God and let God work on your heart to prepare you for the rest of your life?

When you get to that time and place, don't feel anxiety over saying the right things.  Just sit quietly at first.  God will be thrilled to join you. 

Spend 5 minutes this week being grateful.  Use the silence to ask God where God wants to work in your life. (Note: God's answer may take a little longer than 5 minutes.)  Use part of the time to appreciate the relationships in your life and invite God to be a part of them. 

Just silence alone may be enough to lead you to the presence of God.  But if this is a new idea and you need further direction and prompting, there are a few books on this list that may help.  Barbara Brown Taylor actually has a book called "An Altar in the World."  There are also a couple of books on here that provide short daily readings that may help to direct your thoughts.  Try "Beyond Words" by Frederick Buechner or "Reflections for Ragamuffins" by Brennan Manning. 

And if you need a little inspiration, nobody does "Solitunity" quite like those living the monastic life. There's a great documentary called "Into Great Silence" that gives us a picture of what it means to live your whole life directed towards God.  For just a taste of it, and to fill 2 and a half of your 5 minutes, check out this preview:

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