Spiritual Formation: Silence and Solitude

Hey, hey all! Welcome back to the podcast. We've been expecting you! On today's episode, we're continuing the theme of Spiritual Formation and learning not only one new spiritual formation practice, but TWO. Yes, that's right! It's a two for one kinda episode. We're talking about the biblical practices of Silence & Solitude. Both of which are so difficult to find in this hurried and LOUD world we live in, which is exactly why we need silence & solitude. Some time alone without distractions in God's presence sounds peaceful, right? Well, pull up a chair get comfortable, and let's talk about it. Meet you at the Table! 

Dr. Donald Whitney "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life"

Jean Fleming quote from her book "Finding Focus in a Whirlwind World"-

"We live in a noisy, busy world. Silence and solitude are not twentieth-century words...We have become a people with an aversion to quiet and an uneasiness with being alone."

Henri Nouwen- "Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life...we do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside time to be with God and listen to him. Like any relationship, we need time alone."

"4 Ways to Practice the Spiritual Disciplines of Silence & Solitude", Carla Gasser. 

Transcript

juli-_1_02-11-2025_203710: 0:07

Hey, hey guys, welcome back to my Tennessee table. We are so thankful you decided to tune in today's episode. I'm here with my co host Julie Banks. Hey, hey, and it is Valentine's week. I've been busy prepping valentine's boxes and valentine's valentine's. It's for, you know, two classes at school and it's just been a crazy week of love so far. It has. Tell them about the Fun Dip. Oh, yeah. So Cade's given out Fun Dip to all of his friends, which is like, you know, the hot commodity these days. So he's, yeah, he's giving out Fun Dip with a little, attachment to it that says like, Happy Valentine's Day from Cade is the best we could do. I was like, what about this? He'd be like, no, mom. So I was like, okay, brah. Happy Valentine's Day. Does that work? He's like, just fine. Okay, here we go. Everybody loves fun dip. Everybody loves fun dip. It's going to be great. We talked about that. You don't even need the card. You really don't. He could have just written his name on it and given it to the kids and they would be like, yeah, We love K to give us the fun dip, stick it in there. Valentine's box with all the bad food dye on it. Yeah. Oh, that's going away soon. So yes, Lord. Well, I thought we would start today by following up on our new year's resolution. So we talked about that, on our first episode. So I thought, Hey, let's circle back and see how things are going. So Julie, tell us how are your new year's resolutions and it's okay. They're just completely, it's fine. You're like the rest of the world. It'd be fine. Well, I was glad you brought it up because I thought, am I doing them? But because you caused me to think about it, I was like, Hey, I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay. So one of mine was managing my calendar, not letting it manage me. Prioritizing rest. I've done that. I'm doing pretty good. This week, I'm teetering. Okay. But I'm okay. I looked at it and I'm going to be okay. spending my time with Jesus daily, I really wanted to do it in the morning. I wanted a rhythm. Yeah. That's what I wanted. I've not made the rhythm it's at night sometimes sometimes there's a day I didn't honestly a day or two. I just didn't do it. Yeah. So I'm, I gotta, rain that rain that one in exercising, going for my walks, doing good. Okay. That's good. Cause the weather here has been like iffy, it's been like really pretty and then it's been really cold today didn't happen. Cause we had like a hundred percent chance of rain all day. Oh, it literally, it rained all day long. I think it's still raining. Probably. And we're recording a little later than usual. And so it's, it's, so it's been rain. I did think this morning I can do it. I will just put my raincoat on and go out and do it. But I didn't do it. It's okay. It literally rained all day. It did. you know what I thought of when I put my tennis shoes on and go to the mall, like the sweet little old people. I, I have done this before you did. Oh yeah. And I see the old people there and I think, okay, is this what I'm destined to do? Because I am already at 40, you know, cool. doing the mall walk like the old ladies and I just pass them and we just walk past each other the whole time. And I think maybe I make them feel young. Yes. You know, maybe they're like, Oh, look at that girl. That young thing. Look at that. Spring chicken over there. I thought I'm not going to know when I've done two miles, like I said, have my watch. You put your watch on. Yeah. You set, set your watch and then just go walk through them. I do this all the time in the wintertime. You'd have to be careful though. Because you might like want to shop so you're trying like to not spend money. You have to be like, I'm not, I'm here to walk. I'm not here to walk into Dillard's or Alta or Sephora. Leave my purse. Leave my bag in the car. Leave your money at home. Leave your money somewhere else. Not in the car. That's probably not a great idea. I can leave my bag at home. Bring my keys. Bring my phone. Yeah. And go. Don't. Don't Apple Pay. I might do that tomorrow. Well, I might have to tomorrow. I might, I might mall walk. Mall walk. Anyways, yeah. No shame. So what about you? My New Year's resolution, let's think. The big one was budget. So. I thought of your words this week. We've been doing great. We've been sticking to our budget and I'm like, Oh, look at what we could do if we just and my friends know about this about me now too. So they're like, yeah, I saw Coke was on sale the other day and I thought about you, like, did you buy? Cause it was on sale. I was like, absolutely. I did. I'm not paying 12 for a 12 pack of Coke anymore. Like, no, that's a budget buster when it's like buy two, get three free at Kroger. Then I stock up. So yes, I, I, we're doing good on our budget. I'm super like super happy. I'm trying to think what are my other ones? Uh, rise up. Yes. I don't know what that means. Abundance. Yeah. I don't know. All right. But I guess maybe I feel Like I'm living in abundance because I got more money in the bank that I did a month ago. Here we go, sister. Good, good. So we're, we're hanging in there y'all on our resolutions or goals. We're hanging. Well, so today I wanted to tell you, I was listening to a sermon by He's a pastor up in Portland, and he's written a couple of books. I think one of them is like praying like monks, living like fools. I think that's the name of it. That's an interesting title. It's a book about prayer. And then he also has a new book coming out. I think it's. on the, um, the Holy Spirit. So that could be good. I might need to go pre order that after we wrap. But anyway, I was listening to, a sermon that he talked, he was talking about spiritual formation and he said, I love this. He said, so oftentimes in our modern Christian culture, we look to spiritual practices as life hacks instead of what they really are. And they are, and this is a quote from Tyler. Our spiritual practices are core practices that make up the easy yoke of Jesus because his burden was light And his soul was at rest and that just hit me really hard because as a christ follower I want that like I want that light lightened burden, I want My soul to fill at rest and I want it so bad, but I do often find my times looking at the spiritual practices of Jesus the same way I'd view a self help book or something promising me a better life. I just did these things, you know, looking at them as if they're life hacks. And that's just not, that's not the point of fellowship to Jesus. It is to form us into the likeness, his likeness, and to participate in his suffering so that we can be poured out for his glory. So I just thought I would. Start us out kind of talking back through what spiritual formation is and why we do it. And it's not just a list of rules and it's not something else to add to your to do list. It really is just to make us more like Jesus. And so today we're going to talk about the spiritual practice of silence and solitude. And to be honest, in this loud and hurried world that we live in, this practice is really challenging. I am a busy mom. Three kids, like a lot of you guys listening. And my house is so loud all the time. Someone is constantly singing at my house or my dog's barking. It's really loud. And so there's just constant noise. And so to really practice silence and solitude, you need just that silence. So Julie, I'm going to ask you to kind of tee you up a little bit and you give us just pour out your, like, little reader, studier, researcher. So I want you to give us some good info that you found on silence and solitude. Sure. Yeah. I think, knowing the background of it or the definition of each of them is definitely helpful, Just kind of build a, a platform or a foundation for us to jump off of today. So I found a couple, Definitions and I found them in Donald Whitney's book spiritual disciplines for the Christian life I have not read the book. I did peruse part of it and it looks great So, I mean, I think I can give a thumbs up to that So he defined the spiritual discipline or practice of silence is when someone voluntarily chooses not to speak for a certain amount of time to pursue a Spiritual goals in order to hear God's voice more clearly. And sometimes silence can be observed either in spending time reading your Bible or in prayer while the person is not speaking. There is internal dialogue with the Lord. So that was the definition you gave for the discipline of silence. And then an explanation for solitude as a spiritual discipline is a voluntary choice to withdraw to privacy. For spiritual purposes. It could last a few minutes. It could last a couple of days. Solitude allows a Christian to pursue the other spiritual disciplines uninterrupted and just be alone with the Lord and listen. So we're actually covering two today. We've done one spiritual practice, the last episodes, but you brought this up too. And so did Donald Whitney that silence and solitude go so together. They compliment one another And sometimes you can do silence in a crowd of people, but in this respect, silence and solitude really kind of compliment one another. So that's why we've, we're talking about both of them today, rather than them separately. It's just being without distractions, for this practice. So there's some definitions for you. Thank you. You're welcome. So let's kind of talk a little bit about why silence is so hard. Cause I know I mentioned that. A minute ago, just talking about how loud my house is and those kind of things. And there's just, there's so many distractions out there. We live in a really distracted world and a lot of our distractions are good things like our family, our friends, our social calendars, things like that. And then some of the things that distract us are not. Great. Not super healthy. Not saying that these things within, you know, certain parameters are okay, but like our phones, social media, we binge watch a show, like anything we kind of do to the extreme to fill our time. There's a really big distractions. And then there's the problem of us just not. Wanting to sit in silence because we're scared, like we're scared of what kind of thoughts might rise up or feelings that might kind of surface if we just let ourselves sit in the quiet for so long. So Julie found this quote, I'm going to read it for y'all. It says, we live in a noisy, busy world. Silence and solitude are not 20th century words. We have become a people with an aversion to quiet and an uneasiness with being alone. And that is So true. I just think our world, it just revolves around constant communication with other people, whether a lot of times we're, we're sitting alone, maybe while it's happening, but we're also. We're not being quiet. We're being very distracted and our minds are being filled with just things that are not God And we're not taking the time to unplug. Mm hmm. That's so interesting that you said we could be sitting alone It would look like you're having a solitude Mm hmm, but we could have our phone or we have our computer or during the Super Bowl. They had an advertisement for these glasses That I miss this our meta You Uh huh. And apparently they will tell you things. I don't know. I don't know how it works. It's like wearing glasses like a phone. Like your glasses. And I thought, what on earth? What are we doing? What are we doing? So interesting that you can be alone but not be in solitude, Or sit in silence. Among a lot of people. and that's not necessarily practicing the practice of spiritual discipline of silence or solitude. So I think it's a valuable practice. Obviously we've seen the, the Lord practiced it. Jesus practiced it in the gospels. And it's valuable to our relationship with the Lord. Henry, now, when, as a quote, we're just full of quotes today, we are, we are quoting it up, but these are great and we don't want to take credit for what's not ours. So this is Henry now and says without solitude, it's virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and listen to him. Like any relationship, we need time alone and that time has so many benefits to us. Yeah. I love that quote. I think, I think it's so true. I think, I think it sounds really dramatic. Like when he said it's virtually impossible to live a spiritual life without solitude. But I think if we really thought about it and if you really got disciplined with it, When you're in your car after you've dropped the kids off from school, instead of immediately calling your mom, which is what I do, or turning on a podcast, which is what I also do, letting the moment just sit there and just be silent. Yeah. I mean, there's no distractions when you're driving a car. Mm-hmm So just let it, let it be. Mm-hmm Invite Jesus in the passenger seat. Yeah. Have a little time. Sure. I think you're right. I think if we think of practical ways or time within our day that can be used for silence and solitude, because it doesn't need to be for 12 hours or an hour or five hours, it can be 30 minutes. It can be 10 minutes. We'll talk about that in a little bit. I think the time spent is quite challenging, even to start with five minutes. there's a lot that's, comes to the surface in five minutes. So I think it's important to spend that time and look for the opportunity. So there's reasons why we practice the spiritual discipline of solitude and silence. First off, which is my own, no quote here. It's because Jesus did it. Yes. we see this, gospels that he actually began his ministry. going to the wilderness in silence and solitude to spend time with God in preparation for ministry until, Satan showed up and, ruined all that for a little bit. and then We see it in one specific spot was Mark 1 25, the verse said, and rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he, Jesus departed and went to a desolate place and there he prayed. So if Jesus finds it valuable to spend time with the father. So should we? Absolutely. Yes. We're going to follow that example. There's some other benefits of spending time in silence and solitude and you all may have practiced this before and you may have experienced other ones. There's more than, the three I'm going to say. one of them is that we hear from God. We get to learn his will without distractions when we're calm and we've separated ourself. We can just hear his voice a little bit better. We can seek as well. We can pray. What do you have for me? What are your plans? What should I be doing? If you really want to discern God's will about a situation in your life, it's best just to get alone with him and spend a little time and it might take more than one time. In, silence and solitude or prayer with him. We also experienced restoration and renewal. This world is crazy, right? Sometimes, sometimes more often, and we need some time away just to be restored and renew our hearts. And so silence and solitude offers an opportunity to just kind of recharge. we open ourselves before the Lord and allow him to heal us and minister to us where we're depleted or we're discouraged. We can also just express joy in it too. That brings renewal. So separating ourselves from the norm, the noisy life can restore as not only spiritually, I think it's good for us physically and mentally. Oh gosh. Emotionally just have that decompression time alone with the Lord. And then lastly, Which is certainly not last. There's lots of benefits. of spending time with Jesus is just to express gratitude and worship him. We don't always have to use words. I think when we come before him in silence, it might be one of the most profound ways to acknowledge who he is and say, I'm coming to you as your child, and I'm just going to sit down and spend time with you. And we can sit there or we can express, worship either through scripture we know or through you. His characteristics or through gratitude. There's lots of other ones, of course. I mean, we're going to grow in our love for the Lord. We're going to know him better. We're going to experience him ministering to us in ways that maybe we wouldn't experience or we didn't slow down and allow him to have that time with us. So lots of wonderful benefits that, makes me wonder why I don't do it. More. Yeah. And if I did do it more, I think I would crave it. Mm hmm more because I understand why yeah And what I guess you were saying that last part about expressing our worship and our gratitude towards God because we love him Like what what better way to spend our time than with the father? Mm hmm, like there's nothing better than that and as a Christ follower like we really should crave it Like we really should, and I don't know that we do because we are so distracted and we are so busied and hurried all the time. So just what and how God doesn't need us. God does not need us. But how much joy and delight he must find when we just come to him and say, I just want to be with you. I don't, I don't need anything from you. I don't not hear for any reason other than the fact that I just love you and I want to with you. Yes. I just think that must delight his heart and he must delight in us in those moments when we do come to him like that. I think it's really beautiful. Yeah. Well, like you said, we do want to crave it more and maybe our, maybe our souls are hungry for it, but that hunger is just, drowned it out by everything else that's happening. Yeah. I need to do that and I have to do that and then I want to do that and this is happening and I don't have time and I have dinner and blah, blah, blah, blah. Which is, those are the same things that are happening maybe when we do start. To practice silence and solitude is that running list that goes through your mind. Yeah. as we begin, as we practice it, like I said, I think it's harder. It could be, maybe not. I mean, it was harder for me. It could be harder than we think it's going to be. So give yourself grace. I think sitting. In silence and solitude. We're going to notice how loud our minds really are. So we need to maybe expect that a little bit. I had even long time ago when I had practiced it and someone was facilitating this time of silence and solitude, they said, just get a little notepad and a pen. And if something flies across your brain, like put the pot roast in, or I forgot to call the doctor, write it down and then give yourself permission just to forget it. And come back into just focusing on the Lord. So that might be a really good tactic to use too. there's analogy that Ruth Haley Barton suggested, well, not suggested, but gave in it, she said, you fill in like a large Mason jar full of river water, which is not the cleanest, and there's. Sand and kind of leaves and gook and it's kind of swirling around in there But in time if you leave that jar and just let it set there It's going to settle and it's a lot like our mind You just have to give a little bit of time and with some practice and know that you might be a little noisy At first but it can settle. I think another helper would be to set a timer This is just kind of a helpful hint kind of like have a notepad Set it for five minutes or ten minutes and know that you don't have to You Continually go back to your watch your phone to see what time it is because those are distractions in themselves You might get a dm or something coming across your phone while you're yeah Checking the time. Yeah, so that will help you also maybe focus on a word a scripture Something that allows the your mind to think deeper rather than just on a surface level about the meaning of that And then also recognizing that sometimes like you had mentioned maybe we run from silence and solitude even by ourselves Not even with the Lord is because we don't like it. We don't want it to happen. maybe we have emotions that surface or memories. I think I would, give counsel to feel what you feel and, uh, allow God to sit with you in that. He knows it and he loves you and allow him to help you through it. Now, granted, there are some things that of course. Require deeper help And of course, a therapist or some other support would be wise in that, but just know that those are some tips as well as some things that might come up as you begin this practice of silence and solitude, if you haven't already done that. So, so what about you? I wanted to ask about how you've, how you've done this spiritual practice before or how you do do it. Yeah. So I. In prep preparation for this episode, I actually found a moment in my day where it was actually really silent in my house. My kids were all at school. the TV was off. There's no music playing. The dog wasn't barking. My dog is like. He will just bark and bark and bark it anything like a leaf will fly across the front yard and he will run to the door and attack it So it's really, it's very loud. It is a big deal for Shep to. Yes. To calm down. God gave you a minute. So he was, he was very, silent in my house was just really quiet and still. And in the first few moments of it, it was interesting because I was like. What are all these sounds that I'm hearing? oh, I could like hear things that I don't normally hear. Like I was like, oh, the washer. Oh, the, the, one of our neighbors is having work done on their house. I could hear the work happening at the house. Oh, wow, interesting. So just stopping and being able to be like, what do I, what do I hear? using my senses in that moment was really kind of cool. so I just, I just sat like that for a little bit. Wow. And I just kind of let myself rest in it. instead of trying to be like, what should I be thinking about? I just was it's silent and I'm just going to sit in this for a minute and just let my mind rest. And it is way harder than you think it's going to be because I do kind of feel like I found myself starting to run through that list of like, what do I need to do today that I need to finish doing the Valentine's I need to make sure that we have the boxes ready to go and all of those things. But. In today's world, it's just, it's just hard to settle your mind. And so what I found was that by removing the distractions that are constantly around me, I really could focus my heart and my mind on God. So as I kind of allowed my mind to rest and like you said, even though there are things that are like popping up in my mind, like don't forget to put the pot roast in. Um, don't forget to finish up making the valentines. Once I allowed those things to kind of process through my mind and really found time to let my mind rest, I could focus on God. And I thought, why do I want to focus on God? And I thought it's because he's everything to me. And I want to know him better. And I want to know his heart. And like, like when you said earlier, just spending time with him should. Be my greatest joy as a Christ follower. And so I think that just allowing myself to experience that moment of quiet really just reminded me of who God is and why I love him so much. And I wanted to read this verse from Psalm 13. 31 to you guys because I just thought it was really beautiful. Let me find it for us real quick. Okay. It says Oh Lord My heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother Like a weaned child is my soul within me Oh Israel hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore And I just I love that part which says I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother I thought that was really beautiful and just kind of helped I don't know, reiterate the fact that like silence and solitude and being alone and quieting your soul and your mind is so good and it's what we should do. What about you, Julie? Well, first off, that's such a beautiful word picture. Uh, the scripture, just, thinking about, a mama with her baby and the wee child. I mean, it's just a picture of safety and calmness and sweet and communal. And it's beautiful. It's a great scripture. I was thinking today before you came over Lili, I was getting ready and gathering some things and I thought, what would my life be? Who would I be if I really did this like on a rhythm, like maybe every week on a certain day for a certain time. Almost like when we talked about fasting if you could do that in a rhythm, you know every Wednesday at whatever time Who would I be if I practiced silence and solitude if I really spent that time because I wouldn't be This woman. I mean I will be changed. There's no there's no challenging that I, I wouldn't be this person. I would be someone different in it, and it can't be bad. I mean, it can only be for the good. And I just, I don't know, it was a thought or a trail of thought thinking Lord to know you more and therefore in relation to who I am because of you, what do you have that am I. How should I be serving what there's just so much down that trail That caused me to think about silence and solitude. I have practiced it before, back in the day, it was at women's retreat. Now we're going to do silence and solitude, get your Bible, find a place to walk outside. Yes. Well, the, the leader goes in, I don't know what preps or puts the dessert out as, as a planner of a women's event before I'm yep, that was a time filler. They're I need to be able to do this. So they're going to go out. Not me. Because I have things I gotta do, but y'all go have it. Y'all go have it. It'll be real good for your soul. That's right. And mine, because I get all my stuff done. But so that was my first really experience of it. And I enjoyed it. I mean, it was good. I, and sometimes when I did it, it was not long enough. I thought, Oh, I wish I would have had more time. And sometimes it was too long. so that would be my first experience with it. Most recently, because we were going to talk about this. I've practiced it too, like you did today, but I've been doing it at bedtime. So the house is dark. I'm laying in bed. Usually that's my prayer time. And so I thought, okay, I'm going to, it's pretty silent. My husband has a CPAP, so it's mostly silent. Sorry, Lance, but, and he's really happy about it. And so am I, so there you go, there you go. So mostly silent, I'm not alone, but pretty much. And so just thinking upon the Lord and I thought, I don't. I didn't want to pray. I kept trying to pray, but for me, this wasn't what I was going to do in this silence and solitude. That wasn't my purpose. My purpose was just to rest and to be in his presence. And I had the thoughts pop up to Oh, don't forget to do whatever tomorrow at seven 15. So that was a challenge for me, but boy, once I kind of settled into it, it was so wonderful and peaceful. And I did, I mean, it fell asleep. That's okay. And I remember my mom, I had told her struggling, Mom, I fall asleep at night when I say my prayers. And she had said, what more beautiful way to fall asleep than in the presence of the father. I love that. I was like, all right. Yeah. Okay. So that's my most recent practice of the, spiritual discipline. Now I, there have been times that I've used, This spiritual practice of silence and solitude as like a rescue. So I've needed like a timeout from life circumstances. It's either a dynamic in a room, there's something happening personally or internally, and literally I walk out, so I'll walk out of the room, I'll walk into the front yard or I'll go into a garage and I'm alone and I'm seeking him, I'm seeking peace, I'm seeking a timeout just to settle my heart, settle my mind. Because I need it and I always find it in him. It might take a little bit and usually that's not just quiet. Oftentimes that's me lamenting or explaining, but, uh, but then relinquishing and allowing him time to minister to me. I was telling you before we started that I, had experienced this. Our oldest daughter had her first baby. It was very, High risk. It was traumatic. We had a lot of things going on there. transfusions and surgeries and hemorrhaging and, and, there were some people there and unfortunately, and fortunately I couldn't be with her in a lot of those moments, which mom probably shouldn't, shouldn't have. So, but I did spend a lot of time in the sanctuary of the waiting room and I just made that my little space, me and the Lord and I mostly recited scripture before him and prayed and it was another just time out from, I don't want to say chaos, but from a really charged, emotional time. Moment and there's more to that. Sometimes I just need an escape and he's it he said it for me. So those would be my most Recent and also like the application. Well as we wrap up today I just want to encourage you guys to give silence and solitude a try this week find a time Find a place that works for you see if you can find five minutes like Julie said earlier set a set a timer if you're to and And This isn't to add one more thing to your to do list, but it's just to help you form more into the likeness of Christ. And practically speaking, if you are a mom or you have kids around you or a husband or coworkers, if your life's just really noisy, maybe try it in the morning before everyone's awake or at night after everybody's asleep, or if you have young kids and they nap. Try it during naptime or I've done this sit in your car in the garage, turn it off, but sit in your car in the garage just for a few moments and just have a moment of silence. I know a lot, I know, I know a lot of busy moms probably do this anyway. I have a friend who does this. Just to have some silence, but let's like, take it a step further and allow it to be a moment with The Lord and reminding yourself of who God is and who you are in light of him. So if you're already practicing some solitude in your car, just, just take it that next step further and just see, like Julie said, what would you be like if you really made this a weekly rhythm, daily rhythm, monthly rhythm? I know that there are some people that will take, a 12 hour silence and solitude break once a month or something like that. Oh, that's a great idea. I mean, if you can do that. I don't think practically I could do that, but some people can, and if you can do that, try that. I mean, pray about it. Whatever you feel like God's leading you to do, try it and just see what you would become on the other side of that. It could be really beautiful. Like you said, or I said, one of us said, it can't be bad. It's all good. It's only going to produce transformation and good. Yeah. You will not receive a negative from spending time with the Lord. And it'll get easier. It will, it'll get easier. the dust will settle. Our minds will settle and eventually. Going into that practice will get easier. And all of a sudden you won't find all that clutter in your mind. And you might crave it. We may actually crave it. Like we talked about at the beginning of the episode. Well, it's been a great one. It's been such a great episode and you all were so happy that you joined us today. The topic of silence and solitude as a practice. We have really enjoyed researching it and talking about it today. And if you enjoyed it, and if you learn something new, would you consider leaving a review or sharing the podcast with a friend? We'd We'd be so thankful to have more people listening and using whatever is helpful from the podcast. So remember friends, you have a seat at our table every time. And anytime have the best week. And we'll see you next time on my Tennessee table.