Recently, I’ve been reflecting on the Spiritual Disciplines. Author, Don Whitney, author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, describes these disciplines as “…those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are habits of devotion, habits of experiential Christianity that have been practiced by God’s people since biblical times.
I have been taking mental inventory of which ones I regularly practice and which ones don’t give as much, or any, attention. Sure, my desire is to grow in these areas, but not for a legalistic plaque for my wall. I sincerely desire to go deeper in my relationship with the Lord.
To refresh your memory (mine included) here is the list of Spiritual Disciplines:
- Bible Reading
- Worship
- Prayer
- Fasting
- Personal Reflection
- Sabbath
- Service
- Solitude
- Silence
- Secrecy
- Submission
- Soul Friendship
Looking through this list, I kind of pat myself on the back—until I get about halfway through. The final disciplines point out my weak areas. (Odd that they all start with the letter “s”.)
How about “Solitude”? Well, there was that one time I went up in the mountains and took a walk but that was several years ago….
Then the next one: “Silence”.
This one started me thinking. As an Audio Engineer, my professional world is wrapped up with mixing sounds together while sonically evaluating the tone of each instrument. Being quiet is not part of the job. Ask any broadcaster, “dead air” is devastating! So how does an Audio Engineer practice “silence”?