John Ortberg writes that “researchers have found that it takes twenty times more the amount of amphetamine to kill a mouse living in solitude. But a group of mice will start hopping around and hyping each other up so much that a dosage twenty times smaller becomes lethal – so great is the effect of “the world” on mice. Also a mouse given no amphetamine at all will be dead within ten minutes of being placed in the midst of a group on the drug. In groups they go off like popcorn or fire crackers"(The Life You've Always Wanted, 91).
Solitude is not merely a therapeutic place. “Solitude is the furnace of transformation,” wrote Henri Nouwen in The Way of the Heart. “Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. It is the place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the emergence of the new man and the new woman occurs. I am a social creature but I also realize that when I am alone I am at my most available to God.
Reflection:
When was the last time you intentionally spent over an hour alone in solitude and silence for the purpose of detaching from the “amphetamines” of the world.
When was the last time you intentionally spent over an hour alone in solitude and silence for the purpose of detaching from the “amphetamines” of the world.
Look at your calendar over the next week. Look for a day that you could set aside one full hour when you can engage in solitude and silence. Call the church office and schedule a time to come up to C3 and use our Prayer Room which is open 24-7. It is a great place for getting away from the pressures of the world and finding the solitude that we desperately need if we are going to grow closer to God.
If we do not intentionally schedule time alone with God, it will likely never happen.
Your pastor and partner in ministry,
Kyle
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