Time

One of the wonderful gifts of the Springs is time. Time to consider who we are in our heart before God. Time to purposefully consider and experience the grace of God in Christ. Time to let the word of Christ transform and shape who we are. I don't know why we stay so busy at home, but it just seems impossible to find long stretches of time. I really value the hours of time for me to be alone with the Lord that are built into the retreat's agenda.

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Fasting

It's interesting to me that I find so much value in silence and solitude but only once a year or so fast...and I never fast at the Springs. In fact, I always find that I want to snack all of the time at the Springs. We laugh about chocolate being an essential part of spiritual retreating, but it's so nice to have a hot cup of coffee in the morning and good food. Maybe I should try fasting.

Willard talks about the purpose of fasting is so that "we may consciously experience the direct sustenance of God to our body and our whole person."

He says: Fasting is feasting. When we have learned to fast it will bring strength and joy, we won't be miserable (which is why Jesus told us not to look miserable--Jesus doesn't ever tell us to fake it). Fasting is a way of seeking and finding the actual Kingdom of God present and active in our lives. Fasting can give us a deeper sense of dependency and closeness to the Lord.

Maybe I should try fasting at the Springs sometime.

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Solitude, Silence, Reflection, Prayer

Come join a small group of women from diverse backgrounds and various Christian churches on a spiritual retreat.

We will have times of coming together for Biblical teaching, worship and prayer and then times when we will have lovely stretches of solitude for our personal devotional practices and prayer.

The Springs offers 3 tracks. In the first track, the leaders will walk you through how to have a personal retreat. There will be times of coming together as a group and then long stretches of time for you to spend time on your own with the Lord. The second track offers less structured program and more time for us to be alone with the Lord. The third track is totally on your own. It's for women who want to have three days with the Lord at a retreat center where other women are also retreating.

Women from all of the tracks are invited to chapel times where we have a short devotional thought from the Word and time to sing and worship together. Chapels move us from community times to times of solitude and silence. We meet for chapel the first thing in the morning (as we break our evening silence), at lunchtime, before dinner and as we end our day.

The retreat is held at a retreat center. We each have a private room and private bath so we can rest, take a nap, pray, and spend time with the Lord without interruption. There are lovely grounds at the retreat center, statues for contemplation and trails to walk, chair set about in lovely places to give us opportunity to be in nature, to reflect and read.

I hope you will consider joining us.

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St. Anthony's in April

We had a wonderful time at St. Anthony's once again. The wildflowers were in full bloom and I so enjoyed walking the grounds.
I arrived a day early so that I could personally retreat before the other women arrived. What a wonderful time for me to reconnect with the Lord.

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Spiritually dry

Sometimes we get to the point where we are really dry. We have worked so hard in ministry, but we feel strangely disconnected from the Lord. How do we re-connect?
How do we remind ourselves that we are living in His presence? What can we do to deepen our understanding of God's love for us?

We talk about all of these questions at The Springs Retreat -- and we have the privilege of leading women in experiencing some of the protestant spiritual exercises that have been so helpful like journaling, reflection, lectio divina, rule of life, prayers of confession and relinquishment, silence, and solitude.

In chapter 58, Isaiah tells the people that God doesn't want all of their religious exercises -- he wants their heart -- he wants their love for him to be demonstrated in a true fast -- acts of compassion and social justice. Then, he says, "their light will rise in the darkness." The theme verse for The Springs is the next verse (Isaiah 58:11)."The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." It's amazing how refreshed we feel when we stop all of our "religious" activity, spend time letting the truth of God's love soak into our heart, falling in love with Him all over again, seeing his hand in our lives and hearing his call, and simply attending, listening to Him.

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Reflection

I just learned that the stations of the cross come to us from the early Christians living in Jerusalem at the time of Christ's crucifixion. Obviously, the people who were there that day talked about what happened and each of them saw Jesus' procession from where he was sentenced to where he was crucified. As pilgrims came to Jerusalem, people would walk them down the route and tell their stories. Christians weren't allowed to publically worship along the route, but in twos and threes they would walk the route on Easter and remember. Over the years, Christian pilgrims would come to Jerusalem and would want to be shown the sites,so the monks would show them. Travel was expensive and as Muslims controlled the city, worship of Christ wasn't easy. Finally, someone got the idea to recreate the sites in Europe...and the stations of the Cross were born. St. Anthony's has lovely statues and place to reflect on Christ's life and passion.

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