What I learned at the Springs this year

"At the first chapel, I nailed down some hurts I needed to give to Jesus and I did! Thanks Christy!"

"The Lord used this time in my life to refresh and renew my spirit. It was a delight once again to see each of you - you make a dynamite team! I continued on my learning curve of solitude and silence -- it's getting a little easier. Luann has helped me a lot with that through conversations we've had and the awesome papers she has written on it that are available on the Resource Table. I'm trying to free myself of rules and expectations - it's coming!

"Thanks to each of you for all the work you sink into this very worthwhile project! Two resources that really meant a lot to me this year were "Hearts Unfold like Flowers Before Thee" and the 2 pages of God's promises from Scripture - that was amazing."

-- Sue, Nov 2011 retreatant

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Silence isn't as scary as it first seems

The Springs Retreat is a time of solitude, a personal retreat to reconnect with God who is our best friend and the lover of our souls!  It is so much easier than I thought.

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Restore my soul

"Allowing service for Christ to steal our devotion to him is a radical failure in personal soul care. But it is one from which the practice of communing with Christ in times of solitude and silence can deliver us."(Willard, The Great Omission, 130)

How many times have we gotten to the place where we are absolutely empty, poured out, exhausted...and how many times have we found that the rest and refreshment of taking a nap, walking in a natural setting, reading our Bibles, and simply being silent and alone with the Lord has completely restored us? Every single time.

Silence, Solitude, and Time are our best friends...they are essential to our soul care.

“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul.” Psalm 23

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Silence

Sometimes just the thought of a few hours of silence can freak us out.

Kathleen Norris writes about the reaction of one of her students to sitting in silence: "It's scary," a fifth grader complained. "Why?" I asked, and I believe that he got to the heart of it when he replied, "It's like we're waiting for something--it's scary!"

Exactly! When we're at The Springs we enjoy leisurely hours of silence and we are expectantly waiting for the Lord. The first time, it can be scary. Once we get used to the idea, it becomes one of the true gifts of the retreat. There is so much we can experience when we listen and wait. It really not actually very scary after all.

We come to understand what the psalmist had in mind when he wrote: "Be still and know that I am God."

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The Remedy

"Allowing service for Christ to steal our devotion to him is a radical failure in personal soul care. But it is one from which the practice of communing with Christ in times of solitude and silence can deliver us." (Willard, The Great Omission, 130)

How many times have we come to The Springs absolutely empty, poured out, exhausted...and how many times have we found that the rest and refreshment of time to take a nap, walk the trails, read our Bible, and simply be silent and alone with the Lord has completely restored us.

Silence, Solitude, and Time are a leaders best friends...they are essential to our soul care.

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Silence and Solitude

"In drawing aside for lengthy periods of time, we seek to rid ourselves of the corrosion of soul that accrues from constant interaction with others and the world around us. In this place of quiet communion, we discover again that we do have souls, that we indeed have inner beings to be nurtured. Then we begin to experience again the presence of God in the inner sanctuary, speaking to and interacting with us. We understand anew that God will not compete for our attention. We must arrange time for our communion with Him as we draw aside in solitude and silence." (Willard, The Great Omission, 130)

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A Puritan test for our Love of God

Thoughts from Thomas Watson, a Puritan (I needed to read this 3-4 times before I got what he was saying):

The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God.

"When I awake, I am still with thee" (Psalm 139:18).

The thoughts are as travelers in the mind. David's thoughts kept heaven-road. "I am still with Thee."

God is the treasure, and where the treasure is, there is the heart.

By this we may test our love to God: What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think on God. Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory?

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Keeping the Lord before Us

One of the most essential practices of the spiritual life is to keep the Lord before us all of the time. David knew this: "I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure" (Psalm 16:8-9).

So how do we do this? It takes practice. But the goal is to have our mind come to rest in the Lord, not in all of the other noise that occupies our thinking. Once we start paying attention to all of the things going on in our thoughts, we'll become aware of how little time we spend "keeping the Lord always before us." So the goal is to have our thoughts return to the Lord.

At the Springs, we have the time to quiet the inner noise. Sometimes it takes 24 hours of solitude before we can be fully present to the Lord. I've found some ways that help me to quiet the inner noise - things as simple as keeping a list so that my mind doesn't have to be continually reminding of things I don't want to forget.

Along with quieting the inner noise, we need to fill our minds with Jesus. We open ourselves to Him and direct our thinking toward Him. This is our goal. We can develop the habit of keeping the words of the Gospels in our minds by reading them carefully day by day, and re-reading them. We can memorize them. I find that when I am actively working on memorizing a passage, then I can recall it to mind throughout the day.

Keeping the Lord before us is a choice, a habit, a skill that we can practice and become better at. If we stick with it, keeping our mind focused on the Lord and at peace in Him, will become the default. Our minds will return to Him naturally, as a matter of habit.

Don't get discouraged. Take baby steps and you will find that keeping the Lord before you becomes such a gift.

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Time for Silence and Solitude

At the Springs there is time to be alone, attending to the sounds of the birds singing, and the river rushing down below, and to enjoy "being" with the Lord.

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Solitude and Silence

Dallas Willard speaks of solitude, silence and fasting as three practices that are especially helpful in making Sabbath rest real. I thought that was interesting. It's practicing silence and solitude at the Springs that not only provides a deep sense of rest while we are at the retreat, but also then enables us to enter into that place of rest even in the midst of a very busy life.

"We strongly need to see the manifest hand of God in what we are and what we do. We need to be sure HE is pulling the load, bearing the burden--which we are all too ready to assume is up to us alone. We must understand that He is in charge of the outcome of our efforts, and that the outcome will be good, right. And all of this is encompassed in one biblical term, "Sabbath." (The Great Omission, 34)

Living with an attitude of total rest in God will not happen automatically. We must practice laying everything down and walking away from it. We have to practice not talking. We have to practice silencing the inner noise. I love that at the Springs we have opportunity to learn how to leave behind all of our work and how to quiet all of the noise so that we can truly enter into God's rest.

The challenge is: we cannot bring our work with us to the Springs. It's tempting to think that we'll use the time to write an article or complete our Bible study. If we do this, true solitude and rest will not be found. We have to get away from our work.

Take an afternoon to walk the trails. Take an hour to reflect on the beauty of a wildflower or listen to the birds. Take some time to just sit in a chair and look at the valley and be open to the Lord and just be with Him. It can be quite a shock for those of us who are so busy doing ministry to learn how to come away in order to just be with the Lord. But once we've practiced solitude and silence, they become the most precious times for us...and truly, we can learn to bring the blessedness of that rest into our busy lives.

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