Henri Nouwen lived as a Trappist monk for seven months in the mid-seventies. He took a break from an ivy-league teaching career, speaking engagements, writings, and all the other things he was up to, so that, in his own words, he might figure out what it was that Made me think and talk about the 'reality of the Unseen, with the seriousness of one who had seen all that is real.

Nouwen suffered from feelings that he spent more time talking about God than with him, and more about prayer than actually praying.

For seven months he lived the life of a monk, making bread in the early morning hours and searching river beds for large granit stones in the afternoons to build a new church. He lived a routine life in an attempt to find God.

What he found, was that it took a complete emptying of himself before the Creator before any intimacy could be ignited. Though Nouwen longed for God, his flesh rememberd his life before entering the monastery. A life full of praise, acclaim, and noteworthyness. He struggled with the pull these fleeting faculties had on his mind. John Eudes, Nouwen's spiritual mentor through the duration of his stay, said to him, You put your whole identity at stake [into his encounters with people]--and every time you start from scratch. Prayer and mediation are important here because in them you can find your deepest identity,and that keeps you from putting your whole self on the line every time you work with other people.

Prayer and Meditation. Disciplines that are severly neglected and underemphasized in the collective church today.

In takes much courage and determination to pull oneself away from fast paced life and bask in the presence of God even though it might be remarkably boring at first.

I myself can never seem to get beyond a few minutes before my mind has wandered off and is thinking of the hundreds of other things that need to be getting done. God takes a backseat again........And I wonder why I can't hear his voice.