Doing nothing...

Clyde has lots of beautiful maples

October is one of my favorite months.  I love the chill in the air...the explosion of colors as trees prepare to shed their leaves...the harvest of crops carefully tended over the previous months.

It is a month in which I like to make my retreat.  Every year each sister in our community gets 8 days of retreat.  We can choose to make a preached retreat or a private retreat; stay at home or go elsewhere.  We relish in the solitude and silence afforded to us at this time.  I was supposed to be making retreat in a house high on Mt. Lemon in Arizona this week but because of my back injury, my plans had to change.   While that is disappointing, I am more grateful that I can walk almost normally again!   So disappointment has been transformed into gratitude and I am making my retreat here in the comfort of my own monastery in Clyde. 

Retreat for me is about having large blocks of unstructured time in which to do...nothing. 

This does not mean I become some sort of sloth hanging from a tree.  Doing ‘nothing’ is about taking time to notice what God has put in front of me.   (so maybe in that sense I should be a sloth and just hang around enjoying the NOW)   It means I can actually sit down and watch the leaves leap from the trees without worrying that I need to be somewhere else.   Watching them fall always reminds me about the importance of being able to let go - a very important part of the spiritual life and any discernment process.  This season must end.  It’s time to shed what needs to be shed and rest for a time before the new growth begins again.   I might as well enjoy that brief dance on the wind in the midst of letting go!

Retreat means putting myself out of reach...to others but not to God...no checking e-mail...no cell phone...no talking.  Try going 8 days without talking to anyone...it's wonderful when you get used to it.

      

Retreat means I can sit outside as the sun is setting and feel the day turn into night.  It happens very subtly...to notice it takes time and attention...something I probably don’t do on a daily basis.    My patience was rewarded a couple nights ago with a spectacular magenta explosion on the western horizon.  Beauty that is fleeting and will fade is the most precious.   Why do I not take time more often to notice?  I let busyness get in the way. 

Normally I do lots of hiking/walking during my retreat.  This year I just have to take slower walks...which as it turns out...is probably better.  I can often be in a hurry to see the next vista or what’s around the next curve.  This year I am spending more time at the ‘stopping places’ to ponder and praise.

I spend time outdoors because it’s always been a place where I could quiet my soul and it’s always been a place for me to study the artistry of God.  I, for one, cannot look at the beauty in nature and not think there is a Creator behind it.  To have just happened on it’s own because of evolution over time is not a sufficient answer for me. 

As a biologist, I learned about trees, chlorophyll production and why leaves turn color in autumn.  It is my FAITH, however, that causes me to be amazed and awed by the beauty of reds, yellows, rusts, oranges and browns in what is normally green...and to give thanks for it.   

You know what is the best thing about making retreat in October this year?   For 8 days I can be out of reach of negative political ads that tell half-truths.  Now that is worth turning everything off for!