Learning Along The Way

Of Water & Wheels: Reflections on Solitude

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Saturday is a day of looking back, reflecting on the week just ended.  It also is a day to look ahead to the coming week; to take stock of what was and what will be.

In the middle of both I find myself looking at what is.  I am like water.

In what way?  Left to my own devices, I seek my lowest level.  Like water.  It always will run downhill.

I mentioned this week that I am easily distracted.  Actually I distract myself.  Pondering and practicing the discipline of Solitude this week I have seen my habits in a new light, rather like a flood light into a dark room.  Revealing what was formerly tolerable in a dim light to be frayed and worn under bright light.  My habits of starting and not finishing, of having too many things vying for top priority, of saying Yes too many times and having little or “no time” to be alone.

Blegh.

I learned this week that although too much action can be the enemy of Solitude, when practiced at the discipline, one can experience Solitude while busy.  Richard Foster said it this way: “Solitude is more a state of mind and heart than it is a place.  There is a solitude of the heart that can be maintained at all times.”

Look at how two sisters made choices. When presented with a dinner guest, one got busy, the other sat with the guest.  One resented all the work, the other sat peacefully in the guest’s Presence.  Given that much information likely our Western minds would jump to the side of the busy sister who is taking care of the needs of the guest.  Ironically, that’s not where Jesus sided.  He chided the busy sister with these words: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered by so many things; but Mary has chosen the better part and that will not be taken away from her.”  Mary’s priority was being with Jesus.  Martha’s priority was doing stuff.  Both are necessary.  But Mary has chosen the better part…

Being with Jesus prepares us to be with others.  Solitude in His Presence is refreshing to our souls; like what water is supposed to be to our bodies.

Yet we must take care of life and work.  We must be active.  In reading the Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire I encountered an idea that made perfect sense to me.

Be the still axis.

A wheel can spin wildly fast; going downhill like water, the revolutions are hard to count.  But at the center is the immovable axis which keeps the wheel able to do what it’s intended to do.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh suggests we strive “to be the still axis within the revolving wheel of relationships, obligations and activities.” 

Don’t do away with action; Be the still axis.

Looking at Solitude this week has been a blessing.  I have seen some of my habits for what they are: water going downhill.

I have also seen the possibility of learning to be still at the center even when there are many things to attend to.

I love this summary again by Anne Morrow Lindbergh: “The problem is not entirely in finding the room of one’s own, the time alone, difficult and necessary as that is.  The problem is more how to still the soul in the midst of its activities.”

What have you learned this first week of Lent?

 

Learning in Lent

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This is the cover of the book I am reading during this season of Lent.  I bought it because I love the title.  I love the concept.  I loved it so much I ordered multiple copies with specific “Formation Friends” in mind; women who I know to be on the path desiring a closer, deeper walk with Jesus.

It’s short.  It’s simple.  But it’s deep and piercing.

On Day 4 of Lent and the first Saturday in Lent a pattern is established: reflect on what I have learned and experienced in the previous week.  One of today’s questions: ‘How has your connection with yourself, with others, deepened because of your intentional work with this discipline?’

Hmmm. This isn’t an easy answer.  I sit quietly considering my response.  Then it bubbles up: this book deepened my connection with others.  I have heard from several of the women to whom I gave a copy, that this little book is the answer to their prayer asking God for what they should do this Lent.

Now that is humbling.  To have prayed for the names of who to give the book to, ‘who Lord would be blessed to receive this?’ And then to have them say, this is an answer to their prayers!  That’s humbling.

But also confirming.  Having them tell me the book was an answer to their prayer means that I actually listened to the Holy Spirit and obeyed. Now that’s encouraging.

This first few days of Lent the discipline of Confession, of less guilt and more grace, has been the focus.

My internal repeated lie of not doing enough is being replaced. With Truth.  Be still and know that I AM God.

Less is More.

By the way, Renovare just made this book available digitally here.  So if you want your own copy but you think it’s too late, it’s not!

What Difference Does the Resurrection Make? (pt 2)

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The tumbling I mentioned has continued.  This question, What Difference Does the Resurrection Make? has rolled around in my head now for two days; the backdrop transforming thought as I have lived a regular life on the outside.

I’ve made a connection, thanks to the comment left on the post.

Right theology can lead to right thinking which can lead to right action. 

Please notice I did not say an absolute ‘does’ or a guaranteed ‘will’ lead to right result.  We can know all the right things but what we do with them, the outcome, has many opportunities to get messed up.

From the spring of 2009 to the summer of 2011 I had the privilege of meeting weekly with a group of younger women.  We called ourselves NTBS (non-traditional Bible study).  We didn’t go through a traditional Evangelical Bible study workbook.  We spent our time looking together at the big idea: “what difference does being a Christ follower make in my daily life?”  We had opportunity to work through Renovare’s Spiritual Formation Handbook and grapple with weekly Soul Training exercises that caused each of us to squirm a bit in different areas of our lives.

After working through the handbook we began to read and discuss and act on The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith.  In this and the following two books in the Apprenticeship Series a concept was introduced to us that none of us had ever tackled before; the idea of narratives we tell ourselves.

A.W. Tozer said “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Slowing down to really think about our thinking about God and His Word and, when necessary, work on aligning our false narrative with the True narrative found in Scripture was the focus of our time together.

I miss meeting with these women.  We became a community within our larger community.  One was moving for grad school, my life circumstances weren’t going to allow a weekly meeting in the evenings in the fall, so we agreed it was time to take a break from NTBS.  But I am a changed woman from spending the time with these women, allowing myself to really think about what I believe and how my beliefs affect my actions.

The tumbling thought of What Difference Does the Resurrection Make? is still rolling around in my mind and has bumped up against a false narrative I have told myself for a looonnnggg time.  More on that tomorrow.

 

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