Squash and Solitude

So Jackie and I were doing our usual thing of making dinner and talking about God's pivotal part in our lives when we came up with the idea for this blog. We will be sharing our recipes and reflections on life and God.

Tonight's dinner was focused on Squash. We hollowed out some Mexican squash and stuffed it with jalapeno chicken sausage, sauteed red bell pepper, red onion, mushrooms, garlic, and some flesh of the squash using pepper jack cheese as the "glue" to keep the two halves together. On the side, we prepared roasted sweet potato, yam, and cauliflower and quinoa. If you don't know what quinoa is, it is a grain that when cooked becomes translucent and has a nice nutty taste to it.



While we ate dinner, we talked about a section in a book that I am reading called "The Way of the Heart: connecting with God through prayer, wisdom, and silence" by Henri J.M. Nouwen.

Here are some excerpts from the book that we discussed and pondered:

"In solitude, I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me- naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken- nothing. It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to fun to my friends, my work, and my distractions, so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something. "

" To die to our neighbors means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus to become free to be compassionate.Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other."

This is a great illustration!
"A brother committed a fault. A council was called to which Abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to say to him, 'Come, for everyone is waiting for you'. So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug, filled it with water, and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said to him, 'What is this, Father?' The old man said to them, ' My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the error of another.' WHen they heard that they said no more to the brother by forgave him."

Overall, our discussion revolved around how important solitude is and what the true meaning of solitude is. Solitude is not only being alone away from all the responsibilities in life. Rather it being stripped of everything and left with your naked and exposed self. During solitude is when you commune with God and start to be transformed into His image. It is not an easy process because we look our sin and flaws- the nothingness- in the eye. It is also a process that we cannot do alone. Solitude is done through the power and understanding of God!

Until next time...