My Lord, my Friend, my God, you are my solid Rock. All around, beyond your contours, the land is full of thorns and thistles, wasteland where the snakes hide out waiting for prey. But on this granite refuge, sparkling with these tiny glints of mica and underlined with flint, I stand in peace. A tree grows in the cleft; I’m in your shade. So here I wait, secure and sheltered. opening my heart-ears to your voice. I rest, unafraid and grateful -- able to look beyond the brush and get perspective. I am held here on my precious Rock. That last verse of the poem speaks “retreat” to me: waiting, opening myself to my God, resting, held. I was once on that physical rock, but wherever I go, my solid Rock is there to welcome me.Where do you like to get away to for a personal retreat? I’ve appreciated group retreats, and centers that provide specific spaces for retreat that include labyrinths, gardens, or warm indoor rooms during winter. I loved those three hours set aside Saturday mornings for time in my “sacred grove” back in Côte d’Ivoire. Those are all legitimate ways to find time apart with protection from ordinary life.
There are retreat centers all over the United States, along with many scheduled retreat conferences. When one needs spiritual direction, these are often truly helpful.Though for most of us the opportunity to slip away privately is rare, having an extended retreat that is unscheduled by others can be truly refreshing. Making it happen takes determination. Whether we can carve out one or two days, or maybe a week or a month, it requires leaving behind the noise and demands that hold us in place in order to stop, be still, listen, and respond. Going off on our own retreat may be what opens the door to time set apart with the Lord. While overseas I grabbed a few hours or a day by a river (near a small resort), or in a wilderness area like the rock above (always with others, for safety), or time beside the ocean when we were down south in the country. Each time, the impact of spiritual refreshment was palpable. Next week I will be taking off for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the chalet-on-the-lake, the place that my parents built for their retirement home. They have been promoted to heaven. It is now a favorite spot for privacy, with little interference from the Internet or phones and community responsibilities. There are lots of ways to use time there; fixing up broken equipment and getting rid of clutter can be consuming. But one can also choose to walk in the woods, pick wildflowers or raspberries, or find a quiet nook to read and write. One can spend hours in contemplation, practicing silence and solitude—whatever appropriate spiritual discipline the Lord says to prioritize. Usually I go there in mid-October with my husband, Glenn, to enjoy the peak of autumn colors. But this year he has activities tying him down in Detroit. My sister-in-law wants to get away too, but her husband is also unable to leave right now. So she and I have agreed to get away, just the two of us, respecting each other’s needs for space. There will be fellowship, of course. But we each need the renewal of retreat. What will I focus on? Maybe if I share it here it will help me put these goals into practice:setting aside time for solitude and silence, listening (pen in hand, because that is one way I listen best)
[1] Porter, Steve. “Going on Retreat: The Role of Good Intentions in Spiritual Formation.” April 21, 2016. https://www.biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog/2016/going-on-retreat-the-role-of-good-intentions-in-spiritual-formation[2] Calhoun, Adele Ahlberg. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us. (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Books, 2005), p. 66.
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