Dear friends,

We spend more time alone than ever. 

A pandemic forced us into isolation for months. 

Apple’s crowning achievement is a virtual reality headset that by design is an unsharable experience, reinforcing what we already knew: tech is mostly about me, not us. 

So it’s a strange time to be recommending the practice of solitude.

But here’s the thing — and you know this, but let’s be reminded together — spending time alone with God is different than simply spending time alone. Solitude is an antidote to loneliness because it brings us into the awareness that we are never alone — even if it takes a while for our souls to settle enough to hear the Small Voice.

Solitude is a practice, but it’s more than that. Richard Foster contends that ​“it’s a state of mind and heart.” We practice solitude so that we can carry that holy space with God into the hustle and bustle of everyday life. 

The opening pages on solitude in Celebration of Discipline are hard to improve upon, so below I’ve included some of my favorite lines with the hope that you and I will, in the coming weeks, draw a block on our calendar — thirty minutes, an hour, a half-day — to intentionally attend to the Presence.