Dallas Willard says that practicing solitude with silence are the most important spiritual disciplines for people today, especially pastors. In our busy, noisy world we need to “unhook” and get away in order to be alone and be ourselves with our Lord.

Solitude and silence make space — space in our souls and space in our lives — for God to do a deep work inside us and through us in our relationships with others.

When we are in silence, we treasure words more. When we are away from people, we treasure them in a greater way when we are around them again.

God hidden within me.  I find Him by hiding in the silence in which He is concealed.  — Thomas Merton