R.A.D.I.C.A.L. Thoughts

"Woman must come of age by herself. This is the essence of 'coming of age'--to learn how to stand alone."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh --Gift from the Sea

I think we are cultured in America to be afraid to be alone. At least most of us resist being alone. So we often fill our hours with "noise" and activity; often we turn on the television or the radio just to avoid the reality of being alone. Especially during a divorce, we are so lonely and so worried about being alone indefinitely that we avoid it at every cost. During my own midlife divorce, I think I was afraid that my time of being temporarily alone would turn into a lifetime of being lonely. But I've discovered that throughout history, most people who fully experience life on the highest level, cherish and search for and hunger for "alone" time. And I realize that being alone temporarily to refresh and recharge is different than standing alone on a principle and both of those are different from being lonely. But at the same time, I think we would all do well to follow the example of great men and women of ages past who purposely chose times to be alone and used them to discover the essence of themselves, the essence of life and even the essence of the Supreme Being. We can't discover any of those things if we never make the effort to consciously set aside time to be alone. Anne Morrow Lindbergh felt very strongly that every woman should carve out "alone" time in every day; in every week; and in every year. Are we brave enough to do that? In the end, it is much more risky not to do it, because without time alone, we might never discover who we are and why we are here.

"The next morning he was up long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray."
Mark 1:35