INWARD DISCIPLINE

SOLITUDE

The practice of spending time completely alone in order to connect more deeply with God.

For some of us, relationships and people are not just wonderful gifts from God that we enjoy, but attachments that we use to protect ourselves from our gnawing fear of being alone. The regular practice of solitude can also help us to deal directly with God, one-on-one, instead of depending on others (pastors, homegroup leaders, friends) to mediate that relationship for us.
Decide how often and when you’d like to practice solitude. Daily? Weekly? For some - those who live alone, for example - it will be easy to find time and space to be alone, but the challenge will be to practice solitude by intentionally using the time to connect with God, instead of simply being alone by circumstance. For others - parents of young kids, for example - just finding the time and space to be alone may be the biggest hurdle.
Decide how you’d like to engage solitude. You will want to limit distractions, including your phone which instantly connects you to all your people. You could sit somewhere quiet, go for a walk or a bike ride, take a drive, anything that enables you to be alone and present to God.
In your solitude, you can do any number of other disciplines. You can read Scripture, journal, practice centering prayer, etc. But the gift of doing these things alone is that you will be able to engage God without any others to depend on or help you--or distract you.