Retreat to advance?

I held the envelope tightly as I slid it through the pillar box, then I let go and screamed (quietly....ish)  Thankfully no one around as I turned to glance over my shoulder!

The deed was done, my deposit paid,  decision made:

SILENT RETREAT booked...

6 days of no talking, except for 45 minutes with a spiritual director every morning.

Explore......

May 2014: to be continued........

Responses from others have been wide ranging;

"I would get seriously depressed if I did that"

"Heaven"

"Sheer bliss"

"This is hilarious!   You, not talking for a 6 days?!"

"Jealous!" 

"Why can't you just book out time at home and save the money?"

"Can't think of anything worse!"

The application form was straightforward enough, well, except the "What Religious denonmination?" question. I always struggle with that one... Opted for "Christian" in the end..."Trying to be a follower of Jesus" sounded a bit weird, although I know what I mean!!

The form continued:

" State briefly what are you hoping for from this retreat?"   

Good question .....puts pen down and ponders....needs to be succinct...I am not succinct...

To learn to listen
To explore my place in the Church family
To practise solitude

oh and a heap of subheadings which I don't write down....

It is timely, it is an exciting year, this year of exploration....sometimes you just know that you know that you know.....but you can't explain, because inside of you is a creative mess of possibilities and questions, of hopes and apprehensions, of encouragements and excuses. You don't want to be inside my head at the moment!

Perhaps, just walk some of the journey with me....wherever that may lead.

Salt and Grit in equal measure

 At some point you have to stop the questioning, the dotting of "i"s and the crossing of "t"s and simply step forward from where you are....

Reading back on thoughts written down over weeks, months, even years the strands become a woven thread with a  constant theme over time. Journals can be helpful for that....

Sometimes you won't get the clear bright light of confirmation, but there is something that stirs within you...

You reach for your boots....and you open the door to the possibilities....

You explore, but you feel vunerable....and that's okay because all along there has been preparation for this....

An avalanche of words hit you, not the ones you want to hear....

Tempted to close the door, stay safe.....but unfulfilled if you dare admit it...

Hidden from view? Or walking out, in plain view, becoming who you were designed to become?

You may need this!

 Oh, the explanantion? For me this is personal:
 
Anyone may use a grit bin to clear a public path or road, though they are generally not intended for personal use. 

Typically, a spade or shovel  is used to spread a thin layer of grit onto the road surface, covering any snow or ice. 

The salt lowers the melting point of the snow causing it to melt. 

The grit component improves the friction between a vehicle's tyres/the wearer's shoes  and the road.

Gather the symbols that reflect the picture... The inner pictures in your mind may be just that, for you alone (and perhaps some close friends, who "get you!!!)

 All a little cryptic!!!

So, what are you walking out into this year? 

More to follow......

To Blog or not to Blog...that is the question....

So this is my "pop up office" today; for today holds another question I need to ask in my year of  the word Explore.

Someone once said "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got!" and I remind myself of this quote every now and then....usually when I'm trying to avoid the scales or the thought of driving somewhere I don't know.

This year, however, if I am going to be true to my word of the year, then I need to think about what I want or need to explore.  Please note I didn't say achieve!  Exploration has the ring of  "suck it and see" as well as a journey theme.  It isn't about the destination but more to do with what I discover  about life (the universe and everything?!) along the way.  Could be interesting year!

So this brings me to the blogging question, because it is on the list  (page 4...truly! Subheading yadda yadda!) It also brings me back to the pop up office and the word intentional (never far away)  and all the What? When? Why? Where? Who? reasons for continuing.

 So  I'm going to have a think about this, but it could be a way of  putting some of my "adventures" out there and you could come along for the ride and be the encouragement I need in some areas! 

What do you think?

This little light of mine

I love watching fireworks; the bit where they cascade into colour in the night sky! They light up the darkness, each demonstrating their unique splendour spread abroad for all to see; anyone who would look up and take notice.

If a firework, fails to light or fizzles out before it has time to shoot skywards or perhaps goes off course, we are disappointed and a low murmur is heard throughout the crowd of spectators. However the opposite is true when colour and light and energy and life explodes in front of us; we stand amazed, some of us exclaim, others stand in silent wonder. for just a few seconds we are captivated.

Light overcoming Darkness

A spark becomes a trajectory which leads to a crescendo of colour: its full potential is realised.

Can we cheer that for each other?

And when the darkness is overcome with many colours and shapes and sounds and cascades of light all adding their vibrance and voice....

Can we look to the Light and see a smile?

Chim Chim Cher-ee

This week I met a Flue Enemist.

An enemist ....da da der rada, an enemist da -da-da dar....tempting to hum along with the Muppets in my head....However there was  something I discovered, something that, to put it dramatically could have made us all really ill or worse....

An Enemist, is a Chimney Sweep and I haven't had my chimney swept since one of my boys was about 4 and was asked by the Sweep to go int the garden and shout when he saw the brush appearing out of the Chimney. I hadn't had it swept because I had a gas fire fitted  soon after that date and I didn't think you needed to get it swept unless you had a real fire.....

Fast forward to recent events. Last year we had intermittant problems with the ignition on the gas fire, some times it would light easily, other times it took some persuading. A few weeks back, we tried to light the fire on one particularly cold evening and it just wouldn't light. Ignition defunct. Time for  someone to check it out and replace offending button.

Along came Gas engineer, yep ignition not responding, out comes gas fire, dead bird at base of chimney behind fire; plus loads of soot, mortar..... Hmm. Advised to get chimney swept first " fire probably done you a favour by not working".

This week we had the chimney swept. Apparently cobwebs can build a thick barrier within chimneys and prevent airflow, this combined with the fact that we don't have a cowl on the chimney (hence bird) twigs and nests can also be a problem. Large industrial  vacumn cleaner sucked upwards in my chimney... The next day we no longer had condensation on our french windows, the next day our room stopped smelling damp....

Today the gas engineer (with whom I am now on first name terms)  cleaned and replaced the fire in its original position. The ignition worked perfectly again and smoke was seen curling up from our chimney when he did the smoke test.

We have been advised to get a carbonmonoxide monitor which can sit on a shelf , plus of course sort the chimney out, which was in the plan anyway.

Hope this helps anyone else who, like me, would not have considered an Enemist......

da-da-da-der!