Considering Silence

Why take a silent retreat? In her excellent book, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, Adele Calhoun says:

“Alone, without distractions, we put ourselves in a place where God can reveal things to us that we might not notice in the normal preoccupations of life. Solitude opens up aspace where we can bring our empty and compulsive selves to God. And no matter how well we ‘do’ silence, God is there to accept, receive and love us.”

Sometimes it takes silence to clear the way again. It can be uncomfortable, but we go together and we go in our belovedness.

One thing I noticed as our group shared about our experience with silence in August is how each one of us was led to a time of repentance. Repentance for trying to manage our lives, images, time and others apart from God. It was a gentle invitation to remember His longing for us to return to His open arms. And to return to step-by-step living with His Spirit again.

We were so deeply moved by the welcome to find our identity in our belovedness. “This identity is given; it is not earned,” says Adele.

We go in our belovedness.

JUDY