During this strange season of “lock-downs”, “Social Distancing”, and “Shelter in place” It may be a good time for us who are part of the True Life Church family to share with one another some of the ways we have learned to seek the Lord in solitude. In that spirit I would like to share a personal spiritual discipline that I have practiced over the past dozen or so years, one that has included some of the most profound moments of experiencing the power and presence of God during that time.

It is one component of a personal sabbath I practice every Sunday after getting home from church. For about an hour that day I use an extra bedroom in my house for this exercise. My family generally knows not to disturb me during that time (they know it’s happening because it is the only time of the week when the door to that bedroom is closed and latched). The first thing I do is remove some decorative items that obstruct my view out one of the windows. This is the window that I face if I lie down on the small day bed we have in the room. Removing those obstacles gives me a small, but unrestricted view of the tops of the trees in, and beyond, our yard and the sky behind them. I’ve found that having a ready view of the “direct creation” of God is often a “portal” of sorts to knowing His presence.

Next I turn on some beautiful acapella Christian choral music on an old, small stereo I use mostly for this purpose (those of you who are actually living in the 21^st Century could find a myriad of music like this on your smart phone I know!) While I love my ageless choral music, anything beautiful that suits you would work just as well.

Lying on my back, gazing out the window I often ask the Holy Spirit to come, and lead me into the presence of God. Then I open a journal I use only for this weekly occasion…and I begin to write. 

Sometimes, in an hour or so’s time, I’ve filled in five or six pages. Sometimes it’s prayer, sometimes its musings about God and the beautiful mystery of his divine nature, and sometimes, honestly, it’s page after page of a cry for help when I’m in a spiritual valley.

There are also times when I write very little because, as that music plays and I gaze out my window at those trees and the sky, I am simply caught up in Him, in reverie, in awe, in a state of heart and mind so sublime I cannot even describe it here.

Of course there are also those Sundays when I do all this while feeling a million miles from the Lord, for whatever reason. But I do it anyway. That is where the spiritual discipline piece comes in. I know that this habit I was able to establish by God’s grace all those years ago is too good, too vital to my Christian walk to give up. So I pretty much do it no matter how I feel. I can probably count on one hand (OK, maybe two) the number of times during the past 12 years I have not done this “meditative hour” in some way, shape, or form during my sabbath time.

Because no matter how it feels on any given Sunday it has been one of best ways I have ever found to both seek and find Him.

Or maybe be found by Him.