Relinquish the False Self - Solitude

     The easiest way to explain the spiritual discipline of solitude is through a relationship.  When you fall in love, there are many times that you just want to be alone with the person that you're in love with.  You don't necessarily do anything important or say anything earth changing.  It's just the fact that you can show your love more completely when you are alone with them.  This shouldn't only hold true for human love, but also for divine love between our heavenly father and ourselves.  Solitude should be a common thing that stems from our desire to have a more intimate relationship with our Creator.

     Jesus, before he even started his ministry, went into the desert in solitude for forty days.  He went there to commune with God.  Many times solitude is used as a place for reflecting and revelation.  When we are alone, away from judgments and interpretations of what we say, we can be totally open.  We begin to find faults in our thoughts, behaviors, and actions.  We also begin to see our strengths, that other people might think as inferior or stupid, but God can use for the building of his kingdom.

     "Let him sit alone in silence for the LORD has laid it on him." (Lamentations 3:28)

     "The practice of solitude involves scheduling enough uninterrupted time in a distraction-free environment that you experience isolation and are alone with God.  Solitude is a 'container discipline' for the practice of other spiritual disciplines." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook