Two spiritual disciplines that are essential to our development are community and solitude.  Every follower of Christ needs to be a part of a local body of believers. We need each other for healthy spiritual development.  We need to build each other up and help each other along.  Community is readily embraced by today’s followers of Christ, but what about solitude?  We live in a society that is infatuated with information.  It is literally at our fingertips.  This constant connection has tethered us to the notion that solitude is intolerable.  The truth is Christ followers need solitude.  Try to carve out ten minutes of total silence and isolation today.  Get alone with God and see yourself as He sees you.

“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. . . . Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. . . . Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils.”  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)