Time for stillness

From rushing round

to stillness,

Lord I come.

From being pulled in all directions

to the simplicity of the moment,

Lord I come.

Help me to realign my will with your will

and my spirit with your Spirit,

as I reach out to you

in the silence.

"You are my beloved child

I will always welcome you

into the rhythm and breath of my life.

Abide in me, and I in you.

Let me love you again into becoming

the person I created you to be."

- Angela Ashwin -

It is often easier for people to come together with others for a retreat than it is to carve out time for solitude on their own. The change of place helps because we all tend to be easily distracted in our own homes. With the change of place comes a change of pace. Away from our usual environment, where we find so much to occupy ourselves, it is easier to slow down and .....listen for the Voice we long to hear.

It was a fruitful time of being still in God's presence for those who came for the "Finding God in troubled times" retreat yesterday, at Villa Hermine. This time, the youngest among the participants was a university student in her early twenties. The average age of the other participants was about 50! But age is not a barrier, for the Lord waits eagerly for each of his beloved children to be attentive to him, to sit and commune with him regularly. It is just that younger people are so full of energy and on the go that to take a day off seems too 'unproductive'.

Through it all the focus was to seek the grace of "being held in God's love" in and through the difficult situations each one faces. Being rooted in God's love, each person discovered and reclaimed the many gifts for life that have been offered by our Lord, gifts that empower each one to be a transforming presence in every situation and relationship, however difficult. A retreat sends us back home refreshed, and often transformed (at least a little each time), so that we can continue bringing God's love to the world around us.

As we move through our difficult times, the voice of the Lord comes clearly:

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland" (Isaiah 43: 18 - 19)