Solitude

Thou shall hide them in the secret of thy presence. 
Psalm 31:20

All our best experiences come when we are alone
with God. There are sorrows which we can endure
in no other place. Grief is of many kinds, but all
grief that is really terrible and heart-crushing sends
us into speechless solitude to weep it out upon the
heart of God.

There are temptations which can be overcome only
when alone with Him. The fight with the adversary
is a solitary combat after all. And there are deep joys
that can come into us only when alone with God, the
joy of feeling Christ's personal love, the joy of find-
ing His strength made perfect in our weakness, the
joy of bringing our empty vessels to the Divine full-
ness of His grace, waiting till he fills them, and see-
ing them overflow...

We need deep communion with Christ if we are to get
it at all. There is no part of a tree so invisible as its
roots: but none more essential to its growth and fruit-
fulness: and just as the visible condition of the tree is
an unfailing index of what the unseen roots are doing,
our visible lives will soon tell whether or not our invi-
sible roots are going deep: for dryness below ground
soon means deadness above ground.

- G H Knight