Because I Can (Part 2)

(Continued from previous post)

Noon on St. Patrick's Day found me cruising along east of Pittsburgh and before I knew it, I was at my destination, had greeted my uncle and was safely deposited in the guest room that would be mine for the next 48 hours.

Forty-eight hours. What was I thinking? What would I do alone for that long? No laptop, no fiction, no music, no TV. What WAS I thinking? (Actually, to be without TV doesn't bother me in the least, but I was beginning to think I might miss the other things.)

Left to my own devices, I probably would have skipped meals altogether or just snacked or scrounged for junk food. Fortunately, my uncle had other plans, which proved to be a blessing. Not only did we enjoy some great fellowship, I was left with between 3-4 hours between each meal for my quiet times, which proved to be just enough.

Almost immediately, I realized what I suspected about myself to be true: I'm a pretty fidgety, unfocused person! Honestly, even in a room by myself, with no other books, no music, crosstitch work or writing stuff, I still found myself being pulled by a million nonsense things, like clipping my nails and sorting through my bookbag! I would say it took me an hour or so to settle down and just be quiet, from the inside out.

I started off by journaling a bit, and then spent some time reading and meditating on one of my favorite passages, Psalm 139. Most of the time I spent reflecting on various passages in the Gospels, reading one particular book, and reading the scripture passages associated with each chapter. I did quite a bit of journaling, just trying to record what I felt God was teaching me.

Without dragging you through my entire 48 hours, I will summarize the good, the bad and the ugly of this experience:

1. The good - it was a great experience to just be completely quiet for once. To just sit and allow God to speak to me, and hopefully offer him the courtesy of just listening to him, was freeing.
   
2. The bad - the bells. The guest hall was located next to the chapel, and every 15 minutes beginning at 6:00 am until 9:00 pm, the bells sounded, with a few extra times thrown in for good measure (I think to announce chapel, etc.). I like to be oblivious to time and that was somewhat impossible when bells kept ringing, ringing, ringing!
   
3. The ugly - you can't live like this! Although it was a wonderful experience and one I will definitely repeat in the future, even Jesus only went apart for a little while at a time. His times of solitude served only to strengthen and restore him for the purpose of carrying out his calling.
   

If you're considering doing something like this, I'd recommend checking out either of the books mentioned in my previous post (Resting Place or Wilderness Time) first. Whether you can do this for an afternoon or an entire weekend, I encourage you to give it a try!

Spring Reading Challenge

It's that time again - time to welcome Spring and time to get with the program (i.e. Katrina's Spring Thing Reading Challenge) and figure out just what I want to read over the next few months. This year I started keeping a list of what I've read as well as what I hope to read, so this isn't all that hard. I know this is an ambitious list but I since I reserve the right to switch gears at any time, I'm free to dream all I want!

First order of business: I need to finish some books I've started recently:
Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Philip Yancey) (blurb) non-fiction, Christian life
The Garden of the Soul:Cultivating Your Spiritual Life (Keri Wyatt Kent) non-fiction, spiritual growth
Miss Julia Takes Over (Ann B. Ross) fiction
Nurturing Silence in a Noisy Heart (Wayne Oates) non-fiction, Christian life
Boundaries in Marriage (Cloud & Townsend) non-fiction, relationships

Then onto some new ones:
The Ragamuffin Gospel (Brennan Manning) non-fiction, Christian life
Surprised by Joy (C.S. Lewis) non-fiction, Christian life
Resting Place (Jane Rubietta) non-fiction, Christian life
Desiring God's Will: Aligning Our Hearts With The Heart Of God (David G. Benner) non-fiction, Christian life
The Life You Always Wanted (John Ortberg) non-fiction, Christian life (recommended by a pastor at church)
Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen) fiction
Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Patterson) fiction
Gardenias for Breakfast (Robin Jones Gunn) fiction
Quaker Summer (Lisa Samson) fiction

Because I Can

This past weekend I did something I realize most bloggers only dream about doing - I went on a personal retreat. All by myself. From Saturday afternoon until Monday about the same time, I holed up in a monastery room with only my Bible, a journal and a handful of books, where the only interruption was the punctual chiming of the bells to remind me that time still existed.

I suppose the idea came to me from reading Bev's post about this book several months ago. An afternoon away didn't really appeal to me, not right now. I wanted a chunk of time all to myself. So I began scrounging around the Internet for such a place when it occurred to me that my uncle lives at a local monastery which opens its arms to guests seeking retreat.

So now I had the idea and the place but no plan. So what do we do when we have no plan? Can you think of a better excuse to check out some books on the topic? I purchased two books that were helpful, Resting Place (mentioned above) and Wilderness Time, by Emilie Griffin. I kind of knew that Resting Place was more geared to shorter times of retreat, but found Wilderness Time to be a very helpful guide in my planning.

I read Wilderness Time in one very short evening. While I didn't follow any of Ms. Griffin's plans for retreat, her book gave me a lot of food for thought that guided my planning. Her ideas on fasting and simplicity resonated with me. Typically when I think of getting away for some R&R, I spend a lot of time ensuring that I'll have all the comforts of home, so much so that between the packing and deciding what to do next, time away isn't at all restful. She suggests that fasting from things we normally enjoy such as the news, reading and even excessive talk, can enhance a time of retreat. Likewise, she suggests that simplicity - setting aside our needs for comfort - can help minimize distractions. She specifically mentioned a "particular brand of coffee" - yikes, does this woman know me? Well, I kind of failed on the coffee part, but her suggestions did help me decide not to bring any music or my laptop and to even limit the books I planned to bring.

I didn't want to overplan and not leave room for God to work, but at the same time, I felt like I needed to have some goal in mind. Recently I read a great article in Discipleship Journal magazine on loving God, and that brought to mind a book I've been wanting to get into: Surrender to Love, by David Benner. So I decided that would be the focus of this weekend.

So a plan, a place and before I knew it, the weekend was here. Later this week, I'll post a little bit about how the weekend went and a short review of the book(s) I read.