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Quiet reflection
It's not that we don't want to be in the quiet. It's just that our "to do" lists cry out to us, our need for control compels us, and our fear of the unknown hinders us. When we're in the quiet, we give up control, do nothing, and face uncertainty of what God might say to us. And, as Brennan Manning points out, we fear the quiet because some of us don't want to be alone with ourselves.
John Stott, retired Anglican priest, encouraged me through one of his books to take a quiet day once a month for prayer and study. He writes, "I have discovered the immense profit of a quiet day at least once a month...It came to me as a message from God [while at a conference]. I had been precipitated into being Rector of All Souls at the age of twenty-nine...I began living from hand to mouth. Everything piled up and got on top of me. I felt crushed by the heave administrative load...Then came L.F.E. Wilkinson's address, 'Take a quiet day once a month. Go away into the country, if you can, where you can be sure of being undisturbed. Stand back, look ahead, and consider where you are going. Allow yourself to be drawn up into the mind and perspective of God. Try to see things as he sees them. Relax!' I did. I went home and immediately marked one day a month with the letter 'Q' for quiet...I could not exaggerate the blessing which these quiet days have brought to my life and ministry."
Stott encourages leaders to set aside time for quiet "every day at least one hour; every week one morning, afternoon or evening; every month a full day; every year a week."
As for me, since reading Stott nine years ago, I've tried and struggled to maintain a rhythm of quiet, as Stott suggests, for formation and study. At times I have quite a difficult time take time to be away, because there is always something to do. "How can I be away for an entire day?" I say to myself. But, how can I afford not? Each time that I do go away for a 'Q' day, I never regret it. As Stott testified, my life and ministry has also been enriched.
What do you do?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Gnotek on -
Well I'm pretty fortunate—I live in that area where you go once a month. I live right on the suburbia/rural cusp. A stone's throw to the south—suburbia, a stone's throw to the north and I bean a horse. My front yard—a typical suburban neighborhood, the back yard privacy with woods and a canopy of trees--further back, down a hill--the lower back yard on a small lake and the unique and wonderful sights and sounds of nature—blue heron, swans, Canadian geese, foxes, racoons, skunks, frogs, bass, and all sorts of birds.
Midnight on a summer night, sitting on the dock, nice cold beer, the night sounds of nature all around, critters stealthily moving in the brush under cover of darkness, an occasional passing train across the lake, a full moon dancing with the moving clouds in a Godly multimedia show--just for me. I do this nightly or often. And daily—as I work at home designing websites and can step right out into it, or drag my laptop outside and work right in this environment.
Even before I was graced with this yard, I've always found solence in nature. When I had commercial space in city, I always had my nearby nature center as a refuge and often did much of my work there. Even as a child I spent a good amount of time along the Rouge River in Detroit a few blocks from my house.
And another great escape is gardening. Hands in the soil, tending to seedlings, nurturing their growth, battling the constant onslaught of weeds. There are some great allegoric lessons to be learned from gardening—one being: fighting sin is very much like weeding a garden. When seedlings it's very hard to tell the weeds from the desired plants, but if you let them get out of control it's very difficult to separate the weeds without doing damage to the healthy plants. And you have to weed everyday or the weeds will quickly takeover and choke the healthy plants, and it's a great effort to get back control.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Cheatham on -
Mike,
As crazy as it sounds, I schedule it in my 24/7 planner. I found that for me, the 'actions' list of the day will constantly be pulling at me if I don't set it down in the back of my car and leave it while I walk, or just sit in the sunshine and pray. Now that it's getting cooler in Colorado, I may seek refuge in one of the quiet coffee shops around me (avoiding Starbucks since that seems to attract a lot of talkers) and reflect by writing scripture in my journal. I have to be creative but I've found if I deny myself this, I'm in big trouble when it comes time to preach on Sunday.
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Permalink Reply by Rob Nicholls on -
Thanks Mike. You have stirred me and confirmed something I have been thinking about a lot. I have just returned from a week in China, mostly in a mountain village. There is quiet there that really drew me to reconsider my crazy busyness back home. I am having some quiet time just now out the back of my home on a public holiday (we have a public holiday here in Melbourne to celebrate a horse race!) and it feels very good to be quiet. David Arcos was out here recently and did a creativity workshop with us where he spoke of the 'power of slowness'. The 'still small voice' of God gets drowned out easily unless we stop and listen.
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Permalink Reply by Jean on -
Do read John's latest book 'The Living Church-convictions of a life-long Pastor' It is super and he is an octogenarian. Superb reviews!
I was a student at All Souls when he was still Rector.
The book is a kind of autobiography in part- he mentions the value of the Q day early on.
Me- I'm full of good intentions usually try to spend quiet time in the morning being available to God -not always as active listening as I wish!
Go on retreat at intervals to a place called the Bield at Blackruthven near Perth (Scotland) Walled garden, chapel was once a carpenter's workshop , refectory is in the old stables and there is an indoor swimming pool!
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