“A discipline is something that you do in your own power to enable you to do something that you cannot do by your direct effort.”
Discovering New Life Through Rhythm
We live our lives by an undercurrent, a rhythm that aids or detracts from our daily walk. Wake, eat, brush, drive, work, eat, sleep, repeat. We have been indoctrinated into a system of thought that drives all we think, act upon, say, or feel. What if you could break from that routine and find solace in the arms of your heavenly Father? What if you could routinely discover His embrace?
Implementing rhythms that help you discover the tenderness of God’s heart will take time, practice, trial and error. The Bible calls it daily seeking the Lord, and the Desert Fathers found these rhythms to be the fundamental elements to knowing God deep within the heart.
Take the discipline of solitude for instance. Practically speaking, the discipline of solitude is to set aside unencumbered times of alone-ness. In solitude, your only companion is yourself; no books, no music, no technology. Solitude helps to reveal to us the things we turn to for comfort and the external things we look to for security and identity. But the outworking of solitude is not to know those things, it is to find spiritual rest. By practicing solitude, you indirectly affect your capacity to find spiritual rest. Abba Isaiah the Solitary said the natural outworking of solitude (distance from men) will have a direct impact on how you treat others:
“He who wishes to find spiritual rest in his cell and not to be conquered by enmity toward anyone must completely distance himself from men in all things. Hence, he must abstain from condemning or justifying his fellow man, from praising or publicizing the virtues of his neighbor, from grieving him in any insignificant matter, or from paying attention to his failings. He should not allow any thought or suspicion of enmity to prick his heart; nor should he display his knowledge to one who is ignorant or impose his will on the imprudent.”
The spiritual disciplines are things like fasting, silence, solitude, prayer, worship, and simplicity (and so many more!). They are the things that you can do that you have direct control over. And they then have indirect benefits in your spiritual life.
Blessings,
Joshua Hoffert
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REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Leave me a comment below and tell me…
Have you ever practiced solitude? Silence? Prayer? Worship?
If so, how did it impact you?
If not, what are you most curious about when it comes to spiritual disciplines?