A TIME TO RETREAT

Call it a strategic withdrawal. About forty hours from now I am stepping away from my work, my everyday environment, and all but one of my relationships to engage in an extended period of solitude. I have been in ministry in some form for more than forty years and for just as long I have been taking time to "retreat."

My retreats have been taken in many places and for many reasons, They are sometimes simply a dedicated part of a day or have been as long as a week far enough from home to detach from the stimulation of familiar settings and to buffer against people who still feel I should take a break long enough to deal with their immediate "crisis." The most effective retreats unplug from cell phones, email, and Facebook.  (I usually schedule a contact with Dianne and leave an emergency number in case someone is dying, but that's about it.)

The most effective retreats have only one agenda - to spend some alone time with God. Comfortable clothes, a comfortable setting, my Bible, my journal, perhaps a book or two, some notepaper.

More listening to God than talking to Him.

The freedom to take a nap so my mind and body will be alert to His voice.

A simple prayer. "Lord speak to me in my silence. Show me Your vision for my days. Shape me."

I will spend three days so to discover again why life matters.

No posts until after I return.