Solitude

So, I'm really bad at this blogging thing. Mostly because I don't have much time to do it. My ministry has definitely picked up since school has started. I work around 14 hours a day many days, so by the time I get home I'm just ready to go to bed. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy what I'm doing- I absolutely love it! I don't have any clear direction of where I'll be after this, but I know this is where God wants me right now. Through all this "productivity" (I hate saying I'm busy, because who isn't?), God has been teaching me a lot about solitude lately.
I think most of us think of solitude and we picture just sitting by yourself, not speaking and not thinking about anything. I don't know about you, but this thought scares me! I love being with people, and I do not like silence. Last night at a meeting we talked about the discipline of solitude, and how we can do different things to experience solitude. Here is a quote that really meant a lot to me:
"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. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair." -Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

This quote got me, because I am a people-person, sometimes I look down on the idea of being alone. I remember at the beginning of the semester I didn't like the idea of living alone. Now, I see the importance. If I don't spend enough time by myself, I will have nothing to pour into others. Just like the Habitude image of a Starving Baker. I definitely struggle with this, and am going to to be intentional about spending some time alone with God- hopefully on a walk.

Just some food for thought.