Sometimes life presses in on me. With a body tired, a mind swirling with a multitude of thoughts, a heart aching, what desires to be open, present, and engaged is lost to me. The pressing has me feeling separate from the Source of animating vitality. The creativity and compassion cannot flow. I need to rest and renew.
In today’s gospel* Jesus says to his disciples returning from mission, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Reconnect with the Abiding Love that desires to guide your work. Allow the grace of God to wash over you. Put down all that has you laden down and delight in the beauty of Creation. Be reminded of your place within a whole that is good, very good.
Find your grounding in holy being amidst all the doings in life. Listen for the voice that lovingly calls your name. See the world with the gracious eyes that see you. Breathe in new life, breathe out new life.
Retreat is a gift. I encourage you to find a retreat center near you and go. Hopefully one situated in a place that is alive with natural wonder, where the sights and sounds take you deep into relationship and connection on pathways other than those our devices provide.
It is interesting that soon following Jesus’ invitation to rest, a great crowd finds them. Moved with compassion, Jesus begins to teach them many things. He even suggests to his disciples what sounds like an enormous task – that they feed the thousands! Yet, we see how Jesus finds a way to do this that is far from burdensome and is abundantly life-giving. He then, again, sends his disciples away to a place apart. He too goes off alone up a mountain to pray.
Jesus practiced a healthy rhythm of contemplation and action. Not in an either/or way, but a way in which contemplative grounding was at the heart of his actions. Whether in a deserted place or among a crowd, he was in God’s presence and about God’s healing, from the inside out.
-Trish Stefanik, Overlook Retreat House at Dayspring
