Do something with me. At least consider it. Make time for something that I promise you won't like. (This is why I am not a salesman. ABF: Always be failing )
At least not at first.
Take some time over the next couple of days to be silent. Go to a secluded part of your home (where else would you go now?!) and find a quiet place to be quiet. for 15 minutes. 15 minutes doesn't sound like long, but- if you are like me- the first few minutes of the silence might be broken by my counting- outloud- the number of seconds that have passed.
We have an aversion to silence. Most of the time when I run I have to have music or a podcast to listen to. There are many people who feel like something is wrong if they don't hear the sound of the TV in their room. When walk into a restaurant (when we are able to) we EXPECT music. If there isn't music then we get uncomfortable.
The same is true for solitude. We can sit in a coffee shop together, but alone and that is normal. But, stark solitude is scary even for the most introverted of introverts. There is a reason why prisoners behavior is shaped by the threat of solitary confinement.
But, what if both silence and solitude are means to living Jesus' abundant life. What if these practices that we might reluctantly agree to (if lead by God's Spirit) are actually healing to our soul and life-giving. What if it is in solitude and silence we meet with the One our souls' are made for in new, and full ways?