Rocky Mountain Climbing #18- A Spiritual Retreat
Every Tuesday morning I roll out of bed about 5:15 AM to head out to my Emmaus Reunion Group meeting, which starts at 6:15 AM. This is a tradition of the Walk to Emmaus, a way of adding a long-term accountability factor for each participant’s Emmaus experience.
I tried out several groups to find this one. Anchored by Andy Stern, it currently includes Kevin, Hollis, Carl, Ed and I. We have guys come and go- one just moved, one had too many work commitments, and another had a spiritual awakening that led him to write a book and head in a another direction.
We meet for breakfast and a program of sorts. Each person upon completing the Walk to Emmaus is given a card that provides an outline for the Reunion Group. It includes a list with: daily devotionals, prayers, readings, spiritual retreat, communion and more. We more or less use this list as guideline for our conversations and discussions. Last week as I was going through my account of my previous week I told the guys I was going to be at Choices the rest of the week and that I considered this event to be a spiritual retreat for me. I was going on to the next item and stopped and told the group that I really felt that this Reunion group was a spiritual retreat.
For each week I go and am in fellowship with other Christians. I always looked forward to the early morning, it was a commitment I honored and felt honored to be a part of. I always learn something about my fellow men, myself and God. I feel I am always in God’s grace when I am there. Each time I go is precious. My spiritual life grows each week that I attend.
For all intents and purposes, for me, it is a spiritual retreat.
As I thought more about this I realized that teaching the Disciple Bible class with my wife Suzy is a spiritual retreat. Many of the people in the class have been together for 3-4 years now. We love and cherish each time we meet and share our lives and our faith. We have had the Holy Spirit touch us through deaths, births, illness and wellness. What could be a better example of a spiritual retreat than this?
Then I thought about a conversation I had with my son Keaton about his best friend Sean. Sean was returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. He arrived at the mustering depot and his wife of less than a year had elected not to be there and to greet him. She has decided she doesn’t want to be married and wants to start a new life without Sean. Sean is devastated and Keaton is devastated for him knowing his friend as well as he does. We talked about what we might be able to do for Sean, if nothing other than to show him we love him. I came to realize how precious this moment was with my son. To be able to see the full caring embodiment of this young man was a revelation.
I now understand that my concept of a spiritual retreat was too human, too narrow. I now understand that in each moment, each second, minute, hour, day, year and life can be a spiritual retreat.
So tell me when your last spiritual retreat happened.
