Retreat and Find the Glory of Creation

I took a retreat of sorts this weekend. We loaded the family in our tiny Toyota and drove half a day to Victoria, Texas, and then the Hebron Cemetery just outside the small community of Yoakum. (Yoakum is semi-famous for the Double D Ranch clothing.)

I’m not sure I expected it to be a retreat, but that’s what happened. I left the computer at home and retreated from the net. This is something I haven’t done in a long, long time.

More than that, our trip to the Hebron Cemetery was a retreat from the breakneck pace of life.

Tomorrow’s deadlines don’t seem so cosmically important when I’m standing at the grave of Rev. W. P. Carroll. He was born in 1936. He brought the cedar trees that tower over the cemetery now. (You can see the trunk of one growing up right next to his tombstone.) And W. P. built Hebron Baptist Church where the Carroll family worships every Decoration Sunday before they eat on the grounds with sawhorse tables and cold potluck dishes like homemade whitetail sausage, pinto beans, broccoli salads, and fresh dewberry cobbler if the weather’s been right.

The weather wasn’t right this year. Dewberry’s were still red. And the lovebugs were out something fierce. Walking around the cemetery with my daughter, Carroll, we fought the bugs in our hair, on our arms, on our faces, in our ears, on our clothes. We retreated to the car, me laughing, her screaming, only to find that the bugs followed us into the car.

Speaking of bugs, I found my muse again and wrote a poem about the bugs. That’s what happens when I experience retreat. On retreats, I see the glory of the creation. On retreats, I remember that I’ve been created in the image of a Creator. On retreats, I find my muse again, and feel the Spirit breathing again into all of the ordinary places of my life.

The Spirit always breathes in the ordinary places of my life, but retreats help me remember how to feel that breath.

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A special note to readers: This post is part of the HighCallingBlogs.com Group Writing Project “retreat, retreat, retreat,” sponsored by Laity Lodge. As part of their sponsorship, Laity Lodge is offering a 25% discount to all readers of High Calling Blogs for three retreats. (Just ask for the “HighCallingBlogs.com discount.”)

If you are a blogger, participate in the writing project yourself for an even bigger discount, plus a chance to win a FREE retreat if you get your post ready before our drawing on Friday, May 9, at noon Central Time.

Full disclosure: Since Laity Lodge is a sister program of TheHighCalling.org and HighCallingBlogs.com, I’m going to be discussing the three retreat options in the coming days. Here they are if you’d like to explore yourself before then:

• Musical Conversations with Buddy Greene and Company

  May 29-June 1 (Thursday-Sunday)
  Explore relevant questions of living faithfully in today’s world with singer/songwriter Buddy Greene, writer David Dark, and musician Sarah Masen.
  + Raku Japanese pottery with Larry Matthews

• Conversations with Marva Dawn and Mark D. Roberts

  June 5-8 (Thursday-Sunday)
  Discuss practical implications of God’s timeless truth with author/theologian Marva Dawn, author/blogger Mark D. Roberts, and jazz musician Charlie Peacock.
  + lessons in oil, acrylic, and water color; Raku Japanese pottery; and tennis!

• Conversations with Dave and Jan Stoop - Couples’ Retreat

  July 10-13 (Thursday-Sunday)
  Refresh and enrich your marriage with scriptural truths for everyday challenges couples face, featuring Dan and Jan Stoop and 2006 Australian Artist of the Year Nathan Tasker.
  + lessons in wood sculpture, precious metals, and pottery