Silence, Solitude and Hospitality
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This is the Air I Breathe by Hillsong Worship
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Letters by a Modern Mystic by Frank Laubach
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Beholding: Deepening Our Experience of God by Strahan Coleman
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“Silence is a way of being before God in our entire lives; it’s a disposition. To get there, we need to practice thinning out the noise of our live and focusing our bodies and senses in deliberate times with God. It’s more expansive than thinking, but more engaged than emptying ourselves into nothing. It’s an intentional journey into God. ” - Strahan Coleman in Beholding
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Psalm 62:5 Yes, my soul, nd rest in God. My hope comes from Him.
Isaiah 30:15 ...in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is with you; the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you. In His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Psalm 147:11 The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.
Luke 5:15-16 Yet the news about Him spread all the more so that crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Silence and Solitude: Making Space for God
“Whatever space you give Me, I will fill.”
This was whispered into my heart during a very busy season in my life when I was spread between the many tasks of running teens around and managing a household of emerging adults. Space? What space? When my hands and body weren’t busy, my mind was. When I tucked myself into the recesses of our house, a teen always found me desperately needing to talk. My life was immersed, intertwined and in most moments intersected with others. Space was more tucked into moments than long expanses of time. While I did carve out space in the mornings to be with God before the day began, I sensed He was inviting me into more. Maybe He was asking to be invited? While I had grown accustomed to hearing Him in the stillness, He was showing me there was an internal stillness and a space with Him that can be found in the busy. I had been prone to leaving Him in the quiet of my morning space. Or more accurately, believing we had parted ways at the closing of my journal and Bible much like ending a coffee date with a friend. From there, I attempted to live how He would want me to live in the day.
But God is not confined by space and time like that. He was gently reminding me that in reality, my entire day is with Him. Every moment He is there beside me whether I recognize it or not. Could I learn to continually recognize it? If not continually, at least often? Brother Lawrence thought so. In his book, Practicing the Presence of God, he talks about this very thing. Frank Laubach wrote Letters by a Modern Mystic journaling his adventure in making space for God. Both books are modern day examples to us that this is indeed what God longs for.
For instance, was it possible in the middle of a conversation with a teen, to find internal space and invite Him into that moment? Was it possible that He would interrupt me in the middle of a mundane task to speak my name? Did He really mean ‘whatever space?’ If this is true, then every moment is pregnant with the possiblity of a moment with God. Some may be big and some may be small, but living like this can be nothing other than transformative.
And so it began. I started to turn my attention to Him throughout the day. In the middle of conversations, car rides, writing, taking walks, during coffee with friends, doing tasks and work I found Him to be present. Sometimes speaking and sometimes silent, but I began to notice my days took on new meaning and my heart looked for spaces where I could be with Him. Sometimes, I just had the satisfaction of knowing He is near.
I remember when my children were small and they loved to play with their toys and imagine on their own. They would gather all of their toys and bring them into whatever room I was in. We weren’t always interacting, but they were at ease while they played. I was there. My presence was felt and all was right in their world.
I noticed the more I turned my attention to God, the more at peace I felt no matter what the day held. All did not have to be right in the world, but I had a growing sense of God with me no matter the moment I was in. The more space I opened, the more I noticed Him. Me being aware did not cause Him to be near, but awakened me to what was already true. God is with us every moment of our day and we are never alone. Sometimes I need to be reminded and sometimes I remember, but it will always be true. The space we make, He will fill.