Time for Resting on the Rock

This past weekend was our church's women's retreat, held here at the Bible Camp in our small town. So a goodly number of our church women came trooping up the mountain, ready for anything. My friend Sheri, who lives here in town, came for the second year. Our speaker, Judith, is a dear friend of mine and also a resident of our town.

It was a lovely time -- so lovely, in fact, that words seem absolutely inadequate. My favorite part, besides being enthralled by our very gifted speaker, was spending four hours alone, writing in my journal, catching up on my devotionals, reading and responding to an excerpt from my Lenten devotional by Julian of Norwich. Becoming slightly sunburned as the sun warmed my face, I relaxed in my aged striped beach chair, bare toes snuggling into the green lawn, writing desk (courtesy of dear Kitty) on my lap, ink and dip pen balanced perfectly as I wrote.

It's so seldom that I get time to write like that ... uninterrupted by small people who need me or who need a referee for a quarrel. That's heaven on earth to me right now: silence and solitude. Not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy our fellowship: we laughed and yelled over Catch Phrase; we acted out Bible stories in charades; we cried together as we worshiped; we sang hymns and praise songs with passion and devotion. It was the perfect balance of fun and fellowship, of silence and laughter, of exhortation and practical jokes.

Now if only I could do so once a month....