Solitude used to be difficult for me. All my life, I have been a social person who loved to be around people. These days are different, and I have made friends with times of solitude. Paul Tillich said this: “Language…has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone.”
I have found solitude as a comfort these days, a time for self-reflection and a time for spending time just listening for God’s voice. It is a time when I find myself, the deepest parts of myself. It is a time when I find God in fresh new ways.
I love these words by Macrina Wiederkehr:
And don’t we all, with fierce hunger, crave a cave of solitude, a space of deep listening—full of quiet darkness and stars, until finally we hear a syllable of God echoing in the cave of our hearts?
Above all desires, I want to hear a syllable of God echoing in the cave of my heart. Solitude makes that happen for me, and I leave the cave with a renewed sense of my life.
God of the Sparrow 🌱 By Kathy Manis Findley 