What spiritual practices support a retreat experience?
I recently return from an 8-day silent retreat. What is a silent retreat? Here are some previous blog posts about this intentional time with God.
Last week I reflected how my word of the year guided my week at a retreat center. I also observed how various spiritual practices slowed me down and helped me pay attention to God’s presence.
Spiritual practices don’t impress God, just so he answers your prayers. Spiritual practices are tools that align our hearts with God’s.
Most of these practices I have experienced before, but once again realized their value in the spiritual journey. These are essential and life-giving for me. Maybe my sharing will remind you once again of the places and ways you too can connect with God.
Silence and Solitude – My soul revived soaking in silence and solitude. This shouldn’t surprise me but each time these practices astonish me with their renewing impact. I read that Dallas Willard wrote that these were the “most radical of the spiritual disciplines.” I don’t know how radical they were for me but definitely nourishing. Silence and solitude create the space for undivided attention and time with God. A place to centered where I know who I am, where I know what I am called to do, and where I hear, talk, and be with God.
Being, not doing – My default mode is to do. I love to-do lists, planners, organizing, and whatever else I can cling to in order to appear as if I have life all together and in control. Retreat reminds me to be. God loves me as I am, not as some future or false self. Be. Be still. Be with Me. Be loved. Being is my home of hope, healing, and health. Ruth Haley Barton writes, “The willingness to see ourselves as we are and to name it in God’s presence is at the very heart of the spiritual journey.”
Love of God – I arrived at the retreat center very scattered and fragmented. Resting in God’s love provided the bedrock, the sure foundation to stand in my brokenness and be healed. I left with a deep peace after allowing the “mud to settle” and the pieces fall quietly into the place of unconditional love of God.
Being present and paying attention – Open-ended and unanswered questions filled the retreat this year for me. I didn’t leave with answers, but God used the questions to prune and sculpt my soul. I wrote in my journal, “Maybe there are no answers. The lesson is in the wrestling, welcoming, and wondering with the questions.”
Enjoying Nature – Trees renew me. Walking in cool forest air lifts my spirit. Seeing “herds” – groups of 10+ squirrels romping up and down stumps made me smile. Watching hawks soar effortlessly on the afternoon warm air currents. God’s holy is all around when we take the time to see his creation.
Discernment – I asked for clarity from God on a major decision looming in the coming months. I didn’t get a final answer, but gained so much insight to my motivations, deep desires, and how my decision impacts others. I know my next steps, though the exact destination is yet to appear. I was also reminded that whatever direction I take, I will also choose joy and thankfulness in that journey.
Community in silence – Twenty-some other people attended this retreat. The sense of community even in silence always amazes me. The joy and smiles as we walked the labyrinth together one evening. I developed “nicknames” for some of them as we shared meals together quietly. I knew some of their routines – who liked to walk in the early morning like I did or sit on the second-floor porch in the afternoon sun. We were one family in joyful love of God.
How are your spiritual practices nourishing your soul?
Love this:
I didn’t leave with answers, but God used the questions to prune and sculpt my soul. I wrote in my journal, “Maybe there are no answers. The lesson is in the wrestling, welcoming, and wondering with the questions.”
And I also love the community that develops even in silence. That is one of the things that surprised me when I did a silent retreat.
I love hearing about your time away with God, Jean. It’s rich.
Ruth Haley Barton’s resources have been a tremendous source of guidance and blessing the past few decades …
yes yes. Her book on Silence and Solitude accompanied me on this retreat.
Jean, thank you for sharing your retreat experience…you inspire for sure….reading your books sure sent me on my current journey with God…i assume youre hitting 60 or 70.. . Im 76 in aug…and its been and still is quite a ride on this horse….somehow youre suppose to go from where you were to where you are…..havent a clue which way to gallop….so i guess its “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord”….
Or “giddyyup”!!!…
Hi Pat. Thanks for commenting. You guessed by age right – we are similar journeys, aren’t we? Giddyup!!!
You write beautifully about this experience, Jean. I’ve been on retreats, but never a “silent retreat,” and this makes me add it to my bucket list. In truth, it should probably be an annual practice. It takes more than just a few hours to “let the mud settle” as you so perfectly put it.
In an effort to reduce stress, I have let go of many “disciplines” lately, but I’m not sure I’m the better off for it.
HI Elizabeth! The silent style of retreat can be challenging for extrovert but well worth trying this practice at least once. I have a friend who has been on two and says no way to another one. LOL me? I love them. Interesting you letting go of disciplines. Sometimes we are too rigid in what we hold onto – listen to God with those empty hands and heart and He will direct you what and when to pick up certain practices again.
Dear Jean, I’m so glad the retreat proved to be refreshing, strengthening, and peace-infusing. My prayers were answered affirmatively! I’ve never participated in a silent retreat, but find that even a couple of hours on the deck with my Bible, journal, and pen can be quite restorative as I seek to listen to my Heavenly Father and write the impressions he brings to mind. There’s something about sitting outdoors that augments the connection between my heart and God’s. This is a discipline I need to initiate more often!
Thank you so much for your prayers. I find when I start a retreat it takes me a full day to enter into a deeper silence and prayers definitely help then as throughout the time. Your couple of hours on your deck is a retreat and I am sure a wonderful time with God!
I’d love to know where one can take this kind of retreat, which is so necessary for the soul.
I find many of my silent retreats on retreat center web pages. I also ask my spiritual director if she knew of any scheduled. Here is another link but sometimes info here is outdated: https://www.retreatfinder.com/Directory.aspx
The more I read about the benefits of spiritual retreats here, Jean, the more I want to go on one, or develop a routine here at home that mimics those practices. I’m so happy your experience nourished your soul.
Blessings!
You are doing what you need to do/call to do right now with your mother. I do believe you can develop the same routines at home. I call those Desert Days – often more like 2-3 hours than days but spiritually is life giving. Blessings!
Dear Jean: I am a Latina missionary and spiritual director serving in Mexico. I am so glad to find your blog! Thank you for sharing from your heart, from your personal walk, and the different resources, so useful! I had also my 8 day spiritual retreat and spiritual exercises, and as you, experiences like that renew and refresh my spirit and provide a renewed vision for my life-ministry…thank you, Jean!
so glad we connected Patricia and to find another soul who loves retreats as I do.