Front porch sittin’

8/22/10 I need some good ole fashion front porch sittin'---that’s “southernspeak” for a retreat, or at least a break from the hurried/hectic life. I know that I’ve just had the summer off. (I’m reading those thoughts of readers who don’t get summer vacations.) But…..this summer has been the busiest that I can remember.
I’ve “retreated” before around town at the cloistered home of the Poor Clare nuns, St. Clare Monastery ,near Frayser and St. Columba Episcopal Retreat Center in Bartlett. I’ve even ventured eastward and attended vespers with friend Maureen (now deceased) at the St. Joseph's Abbey in MA, home of 80 Trappist monks, and spent a glorious fall weekend with JoLynn at The Cove. (Billy Graham Training Center) I now have the Abbey of Gethsemani, in KY on my bucket list, as a place for an unstructured silent retreat. A stretch for me to be sure, but one I yearn to try---just me and my Bible in the presence of the Lord, for His teachings.

Right now I don’t have the time or money for retreats---but as a girl who grew up front porch sittin’ on white painted gliders on South Virginia Street, watching life move as slowly as the people talked, I’m gonna carve out some front porch-type sittin’. I’ll just turn the phone off and sit in my prayer chair in my air-conditioned living room with my Bible and a front porch sittin’ attitude.

I think Jesus called it a closet.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:6)