Where Do You Go For Thinkin' Time?

Thinkin’ time is a lost art. Our culture is so busy that solitude and silence often equal boredom. Folks just don’t know what to do with themselves unless they are working, talking, or being entertained.Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community.”My ability to be a contributing force in my family and faith community depends on times of quiet introspection and processing my life before the Lord. Who I am becoming is really hammered out in the stillness, not in the noise.I am a person who needs huge doses of silence and reflection. Without it, I become a crabby woman–successful on my job as far as getting tasks accomplished, but a failure at doing things in a life giving manner.My altar consists of a cup of coffee, my couch, the early morning sunrise, and a huge picture window. It is there that I do my thinking before the Lord; where we hash over the attitudes that need adjusting and the actions that need repentance.Granddaughter Avalon uses the underside of her tree fort. Someday the tree will be too difficult to climb and the bark too rough to lean against. But I hope her heart has learned the value of building an altar where she can think in solitude and silence.Where do you go for thinkin’ time?

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

(This post is a reprint of my 7/23/09 Sabbath and Sabbatical post, “Thinkin’ Time.”)