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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.

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