“Only he that is alone can live in the fellowship. Only in the fellowship do we learn to be rightly alone and only in aloneness do we learn to live rightly in the fellowship.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein, 1st ed. (New York: Harper, 1954), 77–78.
In an hour or so, I’ll be going off the grid for the next eleven days to my favorite spot for solitude and silence. Disconnecting from attachment to my phone, the internet, social media and every other type of media frees my mind and heart to linger on the things of God. The particular location I like to retreat to does not get cell coverage, there is no wifi, and there is no speaking. For some, nearly two weeks in that kind of an environment may sound like a nightmare. In my experience, it is a salve for my soul like nothing else I have found.
For those of you who are a part of Covenant Church, you should know that this is not a vacation. Our elders have given me two weeks this summer to work on an expository commentary on 2 Corinthians in hopes that it will be ready for publication in 2022.
But the other work I intend to give myself to is the work of prayer and pursuing the heart of God. Silence, fasting, solitude, meditation on God’s word, slow walks in the beauty of God’s creation are all part of the itinerary. I aim to return to Naples with a heart full of the love of God and with a fresh awareness of his purposes for Covenant Church.
I ask for your prayers that this time away will be fruitful beyond what we could even ask or imagine. See you soon!
Comments are closed.