Be Still
By Steve Goodier
I have noticed that the best way for me to get a few minutes of
solitude at the end of the day is to start washing the dishes!
And a few minutes of solitude is something I need frequently. A
time to be alone. A time to reflect.
I think there is a difference between aloneness and loneliness.
Aloneness is necessary for the soul to thrive - even to come
alive. Not loneliness.
German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested and
eventually hanged for opposing Hitler. While in prison, he wrote
letters to his fiancée. The last letter she received was dated
Christmas 1944. Speaking of the war that separated them,
Bonhoeffer wrote this:
"These will be quiet days in our homes, but I have had the
experience over and over again that the quieter it is around me,
the clearer do I feel a connection to you. It is as though in
solitude the soul develops senses which we hardly know in
everyday life. Therefore I have not felt lonely or abandoned for
one moment."
I can be alone without being lonely. In fact, those times of
solitude are necessary respite for a beleaguered soul, set upon
by the pressures of life. I need to take whatever moments I can
to just be still.
Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted," says
Hans Margolius. "Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of
the world."
So I'll find time to ... be still.
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