Solitude and silence are to your soul what clean air and water are to your body.Without them it is as if your soul breathes in air at the airport smoking room, and you drink from standing water in the street. No wonder we are a people of shallow lives and aimless days. Until we stop, find a place to be alone, and listen we can only react to life like cats swiping at a pesky mosquito.
One of the reasons we don't seek solitude and silence is we are afraid of what we may hear from our hearts and from God.
If we slow down we may hear the cries of our heart that call us to change the harmful habits we have created to protect them from the healing relationships of others. Or, we may hear the whisper of God's voice that calls us to a new life in Him that will challenge the mindless, self-absorbing things we do to fill the space between sunrise and sunset.
But we MUST find the quiet and alone places if Jesus is our Leader. He modeled a life submitted to the Father and was laser-beam focused on what he knew he was sent to do. The key to that kind of life, I believe, was his consistent time with "the One who sent" him. In that relationship he found the Father's love for him and the suffering, sacrificial love for those he came to give his life for.
Follow Luke's Story of Jesus, and you will see how often the doctor recorded the fact that Jesus regularly left the crowds and noise to be with his Father in order to complete what he was sent to do.
Luke 5:16; 9:18; 9:28; 11:1; 22:39-44 There are other references, but you get the gist of Jesus' regular habit of solitude and prayer.
I'm at my parents' home in deep East Texas today, and as you can see from the picture, finding solitude and silence here is easier than in my suburban home of Plano. I will cherish the morning quiet after the evening rain and listen to my heart and my God. Please do the same.
The time with the Shepherd will "restore your soul." Psalm 23:1-3