Silence, Solitude, Sabbath

Week One

Every month during 2022 our church has been experiencing some sort of spiritual discipline such as scripture memorization, journaling, and more. For the month of June we are craving out two hours in one sitting a week to be alone with God without a cellphone to relish in silence, solitude, a sabbath rest. Jesus encouraged His disciples to get rest from the ministry when overwhelmed by crowds. He spent time alone with God in the morning. We must do the same. Even God rested after six days of creation.

Rest and being alone, was not going to be my issue. Anytime I have a chance to sit and read or do nothing I jump on it. However, because of a crazy schedule I knew two hours a week was going to be difficult. Today I used the two hours I would have been writing to be in a park before meeting with a friend. Sitting outside was not an option because it was raining. I sat in the car and watched it rain. I brought two books. I started reading a few paragraphs but something caught my attention outside. I was then compelled to pull out my note pad and write what I saw.

Most of the day was cloudy and rainy. My time alone was shortly before 4 p.m. Soon the rain stopped, the sun separated the clouds. An unusually long cloud floated from as high up as I can see to below the treeline; it slowly moved from north to south. The width of the cloud had long white rows like cotton balls stacked upon each other with blue peeking between the rows. An ocean of blue lay to either side of this cloud. This made me think of the pillar of cloud that God used with the Israelites. After it passed by me the cloud flattened and appeared to become a thin, translucent with spots of blue, soft odd-shaped blanket.

It was not silent or still here. The air was filled with birds of all kind. Two black and white magpies swooped here and there ratta tatted with their calls to each other. Insect sounds I couldn’t identify cried out. Human voices, distant car and truck sounds, and train clack clacks joined in the chorus. A jet plane rising like a rocket to the stratosphere streaked double white lines upward. Soft white cottonwood seeds caressed the air as they floated to earth.

There was light foot traffic back and forth, then the flow increased with people done with their work day. I love to people watch and recorded what I saw and wondered what their story was. None of them noticed me except one and he waved.

I was enjoying this time of solitude so much that I didn’t want to leave to visit with my friend, but that time with her was also God’s will.

This time that should have been spent writing on my book became this article. Only the tip of the iceberg is relayed here, the rest is for me and God alone.

My plan is to visit one of our Cleveland Metroparks during this month of silence, solitude, and sabbath and give you a taste of what I experience. I am hoping this is the beginning of a weekly time alone with God after June is over.

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These are her four blogs:

• Heart Emissions – weekly spiritual devotionals.
• Juel’s Travel Beacon – travel information and tips.
• Walking For God Challenge – one year blog to raise funds for HOPE worldwide.
• Writer’s Blog – writer’s journey, news and other information

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