A year ago, Beth Woelk and I took a leap of faith and offered a spring retreat. We had been talking and dreaming for several years about creating space for others to take time out of busy schedules to listen in new and deeper ways to God’s movement in their lives. A year later, we have completed a full year of seasonal retreats! We are so grateful to each one who said “yes” to one of our day retreats.
Life is full. Often, life is too full. It is very rare, it seems, to hear anyone say otherwise. How do we meet the demands of these full lives? How do we stay energized and engaged in the things that matter to us? How do we discern which good thing to say yes to and which to say no to? To engage the action of our life with integrity inevitably requires a measure of attention to our inner life – that mysterious world of thoughts, feelings, motivations, fears, and longings – this is what we call contemplative action. Our hope in continuing to offer seasonal retreats, is to provide an opportunity for this kind of reflection. I sometimes hear people express concern that taking time for reflection is just avoiding the things that need to be done – indeed, it can feel that way because we are so used to doing all the time, but mostly, I think, because it can be a bit frightening to slow life down a little, even for a morning. The idea behind contemplative action is to seek to fuel our action in the world (our work, relationships, faith, volunteering, etc.) with a sense of grounded presence.
Registration is now open for the whole year of retreats. If you are craving some contemplative space to fuel your active life take a look and register early for the retreats HERE. Please be sure to read through the information page for details that have changed.
Be well! ~ Laura