A Spiritual Retreat-An Invitation to Quiet the Mind

Who is ready for a spiritual retreat? Move over quickly, because I am about to knock you over as I make a bee-line to the sign up table. Where do I sign on the dotted line? I am so ready! 

I suspect that we all are after living through a global pandemic. Yet, just in case there is someone who may be  thinking: “Like Duh! Well, hasn’t the last year plus living in our various states of isolation given us enough space and time to do just that?” Well, maybe. Maybe not. 

As an incurable introvert, I will be the first to admit that social-isolation has been a gift to me that just keeps on giving. I have been grateful for time at home where I didn’t always have to be ON. However, even during this time of drawing back from some of the busyness of my pre-COVID life, for more days than I care to count, I woke up with an ever present sense of urgency that I could not shake: “Hmm, what fires will I be called to put out today? How many of my octopus arms will need to be in action? Can you relate?  Yes, it has been that kind of season of life with little signs of slowing down.

The Need to Retreat 

Pandemic living has been a strange paradox of quietly living in overdrive. Hasn’t it? Thankfully, for me, I was awarded a year long sabbatical from my day job–and not a moment too soon. As they say, I knew that I was running on fumes. And I don’t just mean that I was physically and mentally exhausted. While that was certainly true, I could tell that my spiritual self was exhausted. I needed space to connect with the One who was Divine in my life and spend focused time in the comfort of His presence.

A spiritual retreat is a drawing away from the hurried pace of life so that we can quiet the mind to hear God’s voice. We draw back so we can advance forward. We draw back so we can move closer to God.

Now, this is coming from someone whose motto is to focus on the things in life that really matter. Yes, this is coming from someone who takes a weekly Sabbath seriously–a day when our entire family intentionally chooses to slow down and focus on our spiritual life. What can I say? None of us is immune from the toll that this life can take on our full being. Yet, when do we stop to take a break? When do we stop and refuel? 

Isn’t it interesting that we take cars to the shop for a full check up regularly –with special attention to the engine? We are also reminded to do our annual physical check up. But when do we stop to do a spiritual audit? When do we decide to declutter our minds and our hearts from all the life junk that can stifle our connection to what is sacred in our life?

Now if you are thinking that lying by the pool or on the beach with a good book and a bucket of Thrashers fries is the perfect cure, it’s a start, but there is so much more to spiritual refueling than that. The kind of renewal that we need to recharge depleted spirits will require from us a deeper level of commitment and intentionality.

A Spiritual Retreat 

A spiritual retreat requires us to step away from the minutiae of daily life to focus on our soul needs. The word “retreat” comes from a Latin word which means “to draw back.” We can choose to draw back from our normal pace of life for many reasons and purposes. For instance, I have been to leadership retreats and writing retreats. 

However, a spiritual retreat is special. Here’s why. Life has a way of sucking our spiritual juices out from us. It is so easy to get caught up in the trivialities of modern day life. Alternatively, we can get so busy doing important things that we do not have time to do the necessary thing. It is the quintessential Mary versus Martha paradox. Are we engaged in busy work or necessary work? A call to spiritual renewal is a call to step away from the physicality of business and to do soul work–work that is energizing to the center of who we are and that will allow us to give our best gifts to the world.  The best way to be able to get there is to practice disciplines of disengagement.

In the book, Abundant Simplicity, Jan Johnson describes it this way: in order for us to do soul work that nourishes us, we often need to “let go of the life-draining behaviors”. In, Waiting by the Brook: Seven Steps to Deeper Intimacy with God, I write my own observations that we can “get so bloated with the distractions of life that it actually stunts our spiritual growth” (p.137). We need to exhale what is unnecessary as well as inhale nourishment from God to grow spiritually.

As the adjective suggests then, a spiritual retreat is a drawing away from the hurried pace of life so that we can quiet the mind to hear God’s voice. In this space we can begin the critical work of confronting some of the most important questions in life. In this space we will find ourselves challenged to consider questions of calling and of connection to the sacred elements of life.

Retreat Location, Purpose and Direction

The word itself, “retreat”, often brings to mind images of great retreat locations. I have been to quite a few myself that were just breathtaking. However, don’t mistake a place with a purpose. Though it is indeed helpful to travel to a quiet and secluded spot, the real place where the retreat happens is in the mind. Another misconception about the purpose of a retreat especially among Christians is that we retreat to hide away from the evils of the world. Actually, to define a retreat in this way is to miss the directional focus of a retreat altogether–the focus is not on the place we are leaving but on where we are heading. 

The focal point then is not about the movement away from but on the movement towards. We draw back so we can advance forward. We draw back so we can move closer to God.

So are you ready for a spiritual retreat? If you are, I have great news! Click here to find out more.