Very few are called to the eremitcal life; that is the life of a hermit. Most of us all called to live in community and to grow in grace together. Sadly many Christians live alone while in the company of others. The standard pattern looks something like this: attend worship on Sunday, receiving the blessing of worship but rarely making any more than surface conversation with anyone else. Attend a class which gives information with little relation. Read or pray alone regularly and then go to work and tend to fmaily issues without really getting a sense of deeper community. We can find ourselves living a solitary spiritual life which for most is not their calling. Living this kind of spiritual life oftens means people get "stuck", the don't grow and get content to sit in the patterns they have been in for years.
Authentic spiritual community is one of the tools God uses to shape our hearts and minds. These places of grace are a gift from the Lord and a necessity for growth. Monks were only allowed to be hermits after years in community and then it was with the blessing of their abbot. I would encourage all people to seek a place where they can be in authentic spiritual community and recieve the blessings God has ordained for those moments.
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