It's a little over an hour's drive from Beech Grove. Sister Mary Luke, Teri, and I left near sunrise to get ready for the later arriving Women Touched by Grace. The drive through rural Indiana was bursting with spring.
One of the sweetest parts of preparing for a retreat is to be ready early enough to have time to be still and wait before the arrival of our expected friends. The Sisters model taking time to be prepared as part of their spiritual rule of hospitality. Thanks to Luke's good planning, we had a gracious time of quiet conversation and peering from the window in anticipation.
This was my day to lead, and I taught a Bible study on the gift of Sabbath. I love the richness of the teaching from Scripture of the blessing of this precious gift that God has offered, with such abundance, to each of us. Imagine: a God who says that it is holy to cease to work and to be refreshed.
After lunch, we were invited to ponder how we keep/how we can keep Sabbath. We were encouraged to be intentional by how we spent the afternoon. What could we do that refreshes us? I took a walk around the desme enjoying the first glimpses of spring.
You know you're still on the right path in an unfamiliar place when you run into Mary. Especially on a property owned by nuns.
Or a cross on the unfamiliar path back home.
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