Well it has been a while since I have read/wrote my thoughts on a chapter. It has been a busy summer, which is why this chapter for me has been really good. It seems like I am always going from one thing to the next. From one loud thing to another. About the only time I am alone is when I am in the office working on something for the church.
Foster says, "without silence there is no solitude." If this is the case I rarely have solitude. It is easy to not have silence. Even now as I type this I have Spotify playing in the background. (But I still do acknowledge the importance of silence, in fact I am shutting off Spotify right now.)
A lot of people have problem with silence. Why is this? Maybe because it leaves us alone with our thoughts? This silence is referring to also not talking. We struggle with silence that we want to even fill it with our own voice because it is awkward. Foster says, "One reason... is that it makes us feel so helpless. We are so accustom to relying upon words to manage and control others... The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation." He adds, true freedom is to "let God be our justifier."
Foster challenges us to live one entire day without words at all, 4X a year to withdraw for 3-4 hours of solitude, once a year to have a 2-3 day retreat with no other purpose than for solitude.
This chapter has been really good because it comes in a time of my life where my tongue has brought me into a little bit of trouble with one of my relationships. There is a lot of truth in this book that if I learn to apply it should help me in this area.
Being okay with silence is hard but every now and then maybe we should shut down all the noise so we are able to think, pray, connect with our Creator and see what happens in that time. I do not think I have ever regretted a time when I could have solitude. But in order to have it we must make room for it in our lives.
