Learn to Be AloneMfano

Drown Out the Noise

“GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Those words never came out of my mouth, but I might as well have been screaming them at the top of my lungs inside my soul.

I was visiting one of my favorite places in the entire world, a prayer labyrinth in the middle of a spiritual retreat center that I frequent. That prayer labyrinth and I have gone ten rounds together over the years. I’ve brought some of my deepest cries and exciting celebrations before the Lord here. It’s sacred ground.

“God, what are you doing?”

I found myself in this place of intense grief, feeling spiritually attacked on every side. I had no idea what to do other than to work it out in the prayer labyrinth. I knew that in the middle of such inner turmoil, my only way out was solitude.

But it wasn’t always this way . . .

At one time, I allowed the noise to overcome me and then drowned myself in escape. The incessant use of social media, YouTube binge-watching, pirated movies, dipping my toes into pornography, serial dating, long drives blasting music, or initiating and engaging in conversations solely through a screen—my life had become one big distraction. One large escape.

A life full of noise.

I had lost touch with my ability to be alone.

The Psalms give us a masterclass in conversing with the soul. Beautiful and mystifying experiences often occur in the context of solitude.

We live in a world of overstimulation. Of constant noise. Of mind-numbing inundation. This noise pokes and prods at us day and night, seeking to steal our peace with the world’s anxious agendas.

Have we ever stopped to ask ourselves why? Why the wheel never stops turning? Why do the lights never shut off? Why does the hum of the day only slow and never slumber?

Could it be that we deeply fear what silence may bring? Does the thought of being alone overwhelm you with dread?

Silence and solitude make us vulnerable. To be silent, still, and alone before God is to uncover and unmask whatever muck and filth we’ve accumulated from the world and to present ourselves honestly and openly before the Lord. In that context, we bring and lay down all our emotions, whether praises, celebrations, insecurities, doubts, or fears.

It’s an invitation to a journey I’d love to explore together.