Skip to main content

Poustinia

from Eric Corbin
What a word -- poustinia.  Sounds so fancy, but it's so simple.  As our author (Heidi Haverkamp) tells us, "poustinia in Russian means 'desert,' and in the Orthodox tradition, it also means a small house or room used for solitary prayer."  Not so fancy, huh?  Spending time in solitary prayer in a simple setting seems so easy, but for me, it's anything but easy.  Those who know me will know that I always have some form of electronics on me.  Right now, I sit in my office with two running computers, two computers that are in sleep mode, a running tablet with the Kindle app open, a cell phone, a smart watch, a Google Home Mini, and two iPads.  (Most of these don't belong to me, but are used in ministry here at the church.)  I love technology, but how does it connect me to God and how does it disconnect me from God? 

When I went on a spiritual retreat a year or two ago, I took a much smaller amount of technology with me (I couldn't go "cold turkey"!), but I tried to limit my use of it.  I sat in my room at the retreat center and did my best to center myself and spend time in solitary prayer.  When I told my Spiritual Director for the retreat that I had arrived depleted and was often having trouble staying awake during my prayer time, she told me that God knew what I needed and that napping was a form of spending time with God.  I was quite relieved!  Our author says something similar: "Napping is a perfectly fine way to pray, by the way."  I've kept that in mind and don't get upset with myself when my solitary prayer turns into napping.  In this season of my life, as a busy husband, parent, and pastor, I'm accepting that this is just the way it'll be!

What about you?  Does your solitary prayer turn into napping?  How do you enjoy time alone with God?

Comments

  1. JudiFebruary 22, 2018 at 11:28 AM

    I too struggle with solitary time with God. I am so grateful that Eric wrote our post today because I just had nothing I thought I could offer. So in the time when I normally write this morning, I just sat quietly trying not to think through my lists of things to do, but just to sit quietly. I was certain I had sat for 30 minutes and looked at the time on my phone; 9 minutes had elapsed. I was so tired that I decided that forcing myself to stay awake to pay attention for what God might be speaking to me today was completely counterproductive. I laid down on the sofa, pulled a blanket over my head and decided to listen for God there. I had 30 blissful minutes of additional sleep this morning, knowing that God was indeed answering a prayer that I didn't even know to voice. I'll try another time to sit quietly listening for God.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pondering the journey

Betty Hollister writes Judi assured me this week would be easier—more about a journey, maybe even something as simple as a walk in nature.  Ok.  Maybe. I admitted to her that even though I didn’t “like” the week of “Solitude and Struggle,” it did make me think, and I liked that.  And, the thinking, of course, didn’t stop this week.   Monday’s lesson reminded us how Jesus sought solitude by walking away from the crowds after periods of “greatest exertion or emotional distress. ”  That made complete sense.  If Jesus, fully human, but also fully divine, needed time alone to talk to His father and renew his strength to heal the next in line or preach to the next crowd that made complete sense.  Even Tuesday’s suggestions about labyrinth walks to “get lost in God’s creation” made sense to me.  Then, I read about the “blue-gray-green monks” who turned that color due to hardship and fasting and Mary of Egypt who wandered for decades alone in th...
2 comments
Read more

Julian of Norwich

From Rachel Matthews: Today we read about Julian of Norwich, one of my favorite anchoresses. Tuesdays have been wonderful reflection points but today I find myself with not much to say. Things that I have put off since we moved here are looming over me. I turned down a wonderful gift of hospitality last night to be with the Monday Munchers. That made me sad but I did get some stuff done I really need to do. Mornings that are stressful are exactly when I am most grateful for the discipline that nudges me to sit and think and pray just for 10 minutes. The rush of life needs Julians who will listen and offer a prayer and word of guidance. I need Julian of Norwich to say to me, "All will be well, all manner of things will be well." She lived it. What strikes me most this morning about her is that she was there at a calling of God but she was not there alone. There were political structures that approved and encouraged and paid for her well being in that little house, the chur...
2 comments
Read more

Holy Saturday

From Rachel Matthews - Today I have been chopping, measuring, mixing, cooking, mixing some more, kneading, baking, waiting, waiting, tasting, arranging, cleaning, preparing.....and preparing....for guests. It is what you do at a funeral. Either you are preparing to serve and comfort the bereaved or, as the bereaved, you are preparing to receive the community, the family, the loved ones to walk with you to the grave and back again. Holy Saturday feels like the days before a funeral. Suspended between death and life, you just carry on. You work, as usual, but not. That's what the women who loved the Rabbi were doing: preparing the spices, arranging the body (Christ's body), wrapping, loving and weeping, and waiting, and waiting and preparing....for guests. I am giddy thinking about the surprise that awaited them - the Guest!! And, I am giddy waiting for our guests to come to our home. My boys won't be here, so there is grief. I miss them so much. But, the new Amer...
Post a Comment
Read more