Thomas Merton, the American monk, wrote: "In silence we face and admit that gap between the depths of our being, which we consistently ignore, and the surface which is so often untrue to our own reality."
After all of this banging and slamming in our domicile, I have been thinking of going on a silent retreat. A couple of weeks ago, I called this retreat center, and they said to check with them right about now to see if they have an opening.
While on a work staff retreat, we were required to engage in a silence for half a day. It was weird. It was good. You can't fall back on superficiality, the polite conversation you use to motor through your day, to connect, to avoid, to control. Your only conversations on a silent retreat are with God. I have been unfaithful to Him in all my concerns about this house, all this focus on the temporal, and He's not on my mind when I'm doing my job.
I went to church last night, and I raised my arms to invite Him in during praise and worship. He is full of beauty and wonder, my best friend, my life.
I think I'll just go on a retreat for a day, wander through the woods, dip my toes in the pond. Maybe take my sketchbook, and some watercolors. But, especially, my Bible. My lifeline.
"You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you."
Isaiah 26:3
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