When was the last time you sat with yourself and God in silence without scrolling through the media, shutting up the noise of the world in your head to deeply reflect on your life?
The noise and activities of the world is so much.
As one grows older and transition from one phase or stage of life to the other, responsibilities becomes much and weightier. In making ends meet to tend to these responsibilities, we are packed with so many activities, that steals away a lot of time from us, that we don’t have time for ourselves any longer.
The place of solitude is widely underrated by many and commonly misunderstood and mistaken for loneliness, and these two are completely two different things.
Solitude is a deliberate action made by a person to be alone for a particular reason, such as reflecting on life, reconnecting with self and connecting with God to realign yourself to his will for your life, where as loneliness is a feeling that comes when one lacks company.
SOME OF THE MISCONCEPTIONS THAT COMES WITH IT (SOLITUDE)
- As said earlier, that solitude equals, loneliness, that isn’t true
- Solitude is negative withdrawal from people that sparks a mental health concern for a person
- People who practice solitude are weird
- Something is wrong if you decide to be all by yourself – My mum used to do this a lot when I was much younger, she always asked whenever we were quiet if we were sick… LOL
It’s honestly strange to some people to see others be alone with themselves and not looking to spark or engage in conversations, because they do not know the essence for it and understand the benefits that comes with it.
Sitting alone with yourself, gives you a clearer head space as you go deep in thoughts to analyze your thoughts, understand them better, fish out what to work on and let go of.
It helps you reflect on your life, mistakes you might have made, how to correct them and become better. In reflecting on your life, things that you might be confused about becomes clear, insight on how to navigate confusing situations becomes easily accessed.
Plus, solitude or being alone goes beyond sitting with your thoughts, it can also be you setting yourself aside and off every distraction and intentionally separating yourself to sit in silence and stillness with God.
The voice of God becomes louder, direction for life and wisdom to navigate life becomes easily accessed. God speaks every now and then, you know, but we go on our daily activities, living our lives that we get distracted and not hear God when he speaks.
God is the creator of the universe, he owns your life, He created you. He told Jeremiah that even before his mother conceived him, he had already known him and has anointed him a prophet, meaning he has or had a picture in mind while creating everybody. It is in sitting with God you tap into his mind for you,.
The picture God had in mind while creating you is very beautiful, he said in His word, that he knows the thoughts that he has of you, that they are of good and not of evil to bring you to an expected end. Gods plan for any and every humans life is beautiful, and sitting with God deliberately, positions you to receive Gods direction pertaining to your life.
Practicing solitude with the intention of sitting in silence with God, in the absence of no one and social media, makes room for fellowship with God, it is you telling God, I separate from distractions to make room for you and spend time with you, that is fellowship, that is communion.
Fellowship with God is God’s original design for every man, every woman. It is the very essence for your existence. It is in stillness by solitude and separation from the world you reconnect with your maker, that you be one with Him as you live in alignment of his word for your life.
It is separating yourself to commune with a friend that exists in the spirit and controls the natural and physical, and I must say reconnecting with God is reconnecting with yourself, because, your identity lies in him, your worth and confidence is built in him (that is if He is the foundation your life is built on)
We’re often carried away by the digital space that it has occupied a whole lot of space in our lives. We don’t take time for ourselves, to spend time with ourselves and spend time with our maker.
Don’t let anybody make you feel bad for being alone, don’t let the words that comes out of the mouth of people make you double think it whenever you feel like being alone.
At the end of the day, it’s a decision you make by yourself, for yourself. It is so good and very very underrated and not spoken much about.
One thing solitude does for you is that it makes you more aware of yourself, in that you see yourself truly for who you are. It all goes back to the God factor in this, if you sit in solitude with God seeking him, and his words for your life, you also seek to discover yourself, again, your identity is in the one who made you (God)
PRACTICAL WAYS YOU CAN START PRACTICING SOLITUDE
Here are some actionable things you can do in your time alone to help you practice solitude and being alone, whether its you sitting with your thoughts or sitting with God in silence.
- The best time of the day to be with yourself is that hour when the world is asleep, where there is peace and quiet. At that point in time, you’ve just woken up with a clearer head space, with no distractions it will be easier to process your thoughts and hear God.
- You honestly can just start little, you can start by spending thirty minutes, just make sure you’re intentional about it.
- Keep you phone away
- In that moment you can journal if you want to or even write letters to God.
- Reflect deeply on your life. Think about how precious you are to God, think about your progress in life, revisits Gods vision for your life and see if you’re in sync or in alignment with the vision for your life that Hes given you
- Think and see if you’ve missed your steps or if you’ve gone off the rail of Gods plan for you
- Think about your career, about your life and how to become better at your craft and a better person for yourself and the people around you that you love so dearly
- Think about ways you can serve them better
- Meditate on the word of God.
- Remind yourself of your identity an who you are in Christ Jesus
- You can also just spend time with God to love on him and just worship
- You can listen to worship songs intentionally and pay attention to the lyrics, let the lyrics speak to you even as you worship
- Use times of being alone to search your heart. Look into your recent actions and decisions, search your intention behind each action. Ask yourself questions like why do I do the things I do? Be true to yourself and deceiver if they were for the right reasons or not
I do sit with myself and think deeply about my life, ask God questions about my life and I promise you, it has helped me discover myself even better, in those moments God has made things even more clearer to me and this can also happen to anyone who decides to be alone with self and also sit with God.
You see, I always say life is a journey that unfolds gradually. In order to navigate life, it is important to note that God is the author of your story, in him you have the answers to all your question. So rather that just trying to figure it all out yourself, why not run to him and depend on him daily to direct your path?
