蜜芽传媒

From Leslie Griffiths, Methodist Minister:听听听听听听听

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A man who thought I was an all-work-no-play kind of guy once asked me accusingly what recreations I had. He expected me to reply that I hadn鈥檛 got any and that would prove his point - my work-life balance was out of kilter. I suppose I could have bought off his implied criticism by pretending to be a stamp collector or a potholer or a belly-dancer perhaps. In my childhood, I鈥檇 been a lepidopterist. In my youth, I鈥檇 played lots of rugby and cricket. But, at the time this question was put to me, I had no such hobbies or pastimes. However, I did my best to answer his question. I identified three things - 鈥渇un and friendship spiced with occasional moments of solitude.鈥� That stopped him in his tracks. Friendship is a blessing that money can鈥檛 buy and fun is one of its principal by-products. But what about solitude? Surely that鈥檚 as un-cool as you can get.

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It was the picture of Pope Francis at Auschwitz that brought all this to mind. He chose to go into that frightful place alone. He didn鈥檛 want a guide to show him around. He just wanted to dwell on what his senses were telling him. Words could only cheapen the experience. And so, with journalists and supporters all around him, cameras clicking and eyes fixed upon him, he retreated into the only unoccupied space available, the deep recesses and caverns of his mind. And there he must have wrestled with demons as he contemplated the horrors of the past and of the present too.

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Solitude isn鈥檛 loneliness. You need no passport to enter it. It鈥檚 where you鈥檒l find a peace that passes understanding and the courage to face yourself honestly and without fear. 鈥淏e still and know that I am God鈥� the psalmist said; Jesus took that one step further, suggesting that God is the ground of our being and knows us deep down in our innermost selves.

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My recreations really do re-create me 鈥� they鈥檙e a tonic, a pick-me-up, and I couldn鈥檛 do without any of them.