Definition: 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.
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us, 128.
Okay, so my practice of solitude wasn’t exactly by my own choosing. I got a test for COVID and while waiting for results, and for my symptoms to disappear, I was strongly encouraged to self-isolate. So, 2 weeks (yes, 2!) of self-isolation offered much time and space for the practice of solitude.
No, it wasn’t two weeks straight of solitude. I wasn’t sitting at home in silence for two weeks. While I was alone, all that time was not without interruption or distraction, but there was plenty of time and space for practicing solitude — experiencing isolation and being alone with God.
Here’s the thing, prior to these two weeks, I had been filling time with activity and people. While not by choice, the “strong encouragement” gave me the gift of being alone with myself and with God. I was given time, space, and energy to pay attention to how I was feeling, what I was thinking and how God was with me through it. And, being in the context of having to physically isolate from others, and being alone with just God, it provided a clarity and greater desire to experience contentment in just Him being with me. It drew me to greater times of reading, journaling, confession, prayer, and worship.
I found solitude definitely became “container discipline for other spiritual disciplines.”
How do I regularly build in time and space of solitude and not wait for it to be forced on me? How do you practice solitude?
The Sparrow's Nest 