Retreats and Rocking Chairs

These unemployed weeks have been interesting.  I had the chance to go on a weeklong retreat/class and it was the most perfect timing.  I was surrounded by people who get me.  We stayed at a beautiful place where there are rocking chairs that look out on the mountains, a constantly burning fireplace, and delicious meals that I didn’t have to cook or clean up.  It was exactly what I needed.  I got to turn my phone off for days and not even use my computer; I was unplugged and removed from ‘reality’. 

It reminded me of when my friends and I used to go to Young Life camp in high school.  We had the amazing privilege of going to Malibu, a camp in Canada that was on its own island and is pretty much how I picture Heaven.  I remember sitting with one of my best friends on this bench we found, overlooking the ocean with the mountains in the distance, and we felt like we were frozen in time looking out on our lives.  It gave us the space and distance from daily life to really pull back and see life for what it was.  Sometimes when you are so caught up in it all, its hard to find any clarity.

Last week at the retreat center was the same for me.  God created space for me to slow down.  And in the middle of it I journaled this: “What about this crazy idea – That maybe losing my job was a good thing and it was Your plan so that I would have more time for You?  More time to be slow and still and silent…to hear You and know You.  Not for answers but just to be with You. What about that?”

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  I’m a ‘doer’.  No matter what, I will find a way to fill my schedule and therefore feel a purpose.  Finally God said, “Fine! You won’t make time? I’ll make it for you.”  I actually don’t think He would say it that way.  It would be more like, “I will do for you what you are unwilling to do for yourself.  I will set you free and give you space that you don’t believe you’re allowed to have.”  Because He is a God of redemption and deep love, and likes to give us gifts that maybe aren’t tied up with a pretty red ribbon, but are still pretty great.

So I got to experience that kind of space while I sat on a rocking chair with the mountain wind (which really closely competes with the greatness of ocean wind) and had the chance to just…Be.

In the everyday hurried pace of life we need to create a place and space to become aware of Him.  It is amazing what you will see and hear and experience when you just slow down.  I think a rocking chair is a good picture of life.  No matter how hard you push, the chair will never move forward. You will never make any progress on your own.  If you were attempting to use a rocking chair as a vehicle, you would get frustrated really quickly.  But if you just sit in a rocking chair for the joy of being there, it’s incredibly relaxing and you never know what you just might see.

The point is slow down.  Make space for God to speak into your life, and He will.  Or else He just might have to make the space for you (:
Isaiah 30:15 - "In returning and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength."

Rocking chairs = love

 The Hideaway in Monument, CO