Benefits of being alone

In our present day culture we are constantly bombarded with blackberrys, I-phones, apps, facebook notifications, DSTV on demand, pvr, tweets, blogs, I-pads, sms's and ringing phones. Alongside this is the endless desire to either be planning, being at or posting pictures of the social events that clog up our google calendars.
We are a people who hate being alone!

With that in mind, here are a few lessons I'm learning why it is sometimes "good for man to be alone"


Benefits of being alone:

1. Reveals muddied motives
-with the absence of earthly voices around you, and without the constant checking of the social media approval ratings, being alone gives God the opportunity to reveal whether we are motivated by man's applause or heaven's well done

2. Reveals scaffolding
-while christian community is essential it must never be central. How quick are we to surround ourselves with support systems (which don't necessarily have to be just bad things) other than throwing our full weight upon Jesus. Being alone highlights our imbalances

3. Reveals broken cisterns
"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."Jeremiah.2;13
-Being alone shows the cracks in the cisterns I'm drinking from

4. Opens our ears to the Father's voice
-He loves speaking, we're just not good at listening. He loves speaking, unfortunately so do we. Stop trying to be interesting and start being interested. Being alone inclines our ears heavenward and closes our mouths

5. Gives space to deal with and learn from the past, take stock of the present and dream for the future
-Being alone gives us honest perspective

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place to be alone with God and pray."Luke.5:16