Review 2025.06.005
Reviewers Note: It is the middle of 2025 and I am not doing a good job of keeping up with this desired goal of mine to write book reviews. I do not want to lower my expectations but I am going to so that I can catch up. This will mean short reviews on the books I read.
Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton
166 Pages
I really loved this book. I finished it before one of my dark weekends and was “prepared” to be silent for extended periods of time. Unfortunately I was also completely exhausted from not being unplugged in about six months. So while I was able to be silent (no reading, no journaling, etc), I was not able to get my mind where it needed to be.
About 12 hours in, I gave up the silence and just rested the remainder of that day and the following day. The third day I was able to spend some time in silence but it did not feel “productive” (as if silence and solitude were meant to give you that feeling). The next time I go dark, I’m going to listen to her advice and rest first which I should have done this time.
This is one of my favorite quotes from the book. “When we sit quietly in God’s presence, the sediment that is swirling in our souls begins to settle. We don’t have to do anything but show up and trust the spiritual law of gravity that says, Be still, and the knowing will come.”
Not many can handle solitude and silence in their current state but we all need it given the society we live in. I recommend this for Christians wanting to grow in silence and solitude. For non-Christians you might try Solitude by Michael Harris (I read it 2024-09 before reviews).