So the call to holiness – to be a vibrant and true Christian – begins with a certain hunger for God. To come to know their deepest need – to find God – people have to slow down. They have to be alone. They need to go inside. They need solitude, even if it is only for a short time each day. Our lives are pushed and pulled into thousands of activities. We need a resting place where there is no pressure, or we will never come in contact with the deeper side of life or with our basic hunger. It is in this silence and openness that we begin to discover both our hunger and God as the answer to our deepest yearnings.
Most people at some time or other do stop and reflect on their lives, but usually they do not do it regularly on a daily basis. They resist setting aside time, not because they do not know their need and God’s offer, but because they find it hard to break habits that keep them busy and distracted.
Most people have developed habits that keep them from stopping, being alone, and going inside. They involve themselves in work, making money, doing errands, keeping house, and making sure that all their waking hours are filled with sound. Consider how many of us constantly have the radio or television playing? How many of us are constantly on their cell phones. Look around you. Very few people can just sit and be quiet and allow themselves to experience life. All these activities go at such a frantic pace that they find it impossible to break the chain with which these activities bind them.
Dependencies on things such as TV, radio, alcohol and other drugs, sex, and work inside for an honest look at oneself. It is my own opinion that we fill our time with activities and sounds so that we don’t have to encounter ourselves. It seems we are almost afraid to encounter the person we are.
People may also resist because of fear. There often is a hidden fear, never quite fully expressed or clear, of what they will discover if they begin to touch their deepest longings and face the rock-bottom questions about the direction and meaning of their lives. They fear that they may find nothing there, or that they will not like what they discover about themselves and will have to change something.
Not living up to our potential is the price we have to pay for not living a reflective life and simply taking things for granted. When we live this way, we may have a sense that life is meaningless and without a purpose.