quote for today

"Solitude is the furnace of transformation...the place of the great struggle and the great encounter--the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self." --Henri Nouwen "In solitude, we die not only to others but also to ourselves. To be sure, at first we thought solitude was a way to recharge our batteries in order to enter life's many competitions with new vigor and strength. In time, however, we found that solitude did not give us power to win the rat race; on the contrary, it taught us to ignore the struggle altogether. Slowly, we found ourselves letting go of our inner compulsions to win and our frantic effort to attain. In the stillness, our false, busy selves were unmasked and seen for the imposters they truly are." --Richard Foster, Celebration of the Disciplines.