R & R = RETREAT

2/13/12 Reflecting and Refreshing-----that's the R & R I'm seeking this week. With the onset of funk #2 before 2012 was barely a month old, I knew a negative antidote was needed. "More of Thee, less of me." God affirmed that answer 3 times. #1 I received FOCUS newsletter from church. (p. 1) Cole's Pensées (a worthy read) included T. S. Eliot's poetic remarks in Choruses from the Rock. Although Cole didn't include, "The endless cycle of idea and action"----that was the hamster wheel I felt I was on. 

Endless invention, endless experiment, 
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; 
 

Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
 Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. 

Where is the Life we have lost in living? 
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? 
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

  #2 My Utmost for His Highest entry  2/9. My THOTS, Trusting Him On This Subject/Scripture, (my version of penseés, though not as erudite) were: Spiritual exhaustion comes through service, though mine are not of the "headline" variety. Exhaustion depends on where you get your supply. Go back. Recollect where the source of power is. I need to be my best for God's sheep as well as God Himself.

#3 Guest speaker, Rob Bugh, author of When the Bottom Drops Out, took me to Lamentations 3 and reminded me that if my "strength has perished" I need to examine and probe my ways (activities, maybe) and return to the Lord. (v. 40) I need to.... seek Him, wait for Him, wait silently. So on Meditation Monday, I started there.

²⁴ “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
²⁶ It is good that he waits silently 

To me, it all boils down to stillness. Time with the Lord. 

What will it look like this week as I "retreat"? I'm not exactly sure. But God.......will meet me where I am. I sense that less (activity) will be more. Less information, more knowledge. Knowledge of stillness and silence, not constant motion. Deeper, richer times with Him. It might include digital detoxing with e-mail and "googling" and letting go of the NY Times, USA Today and "Nightly News." I might blog or I might not. 

Pray with me that my reflection on God's hand in my life as I align my will with His will, will be a time of stillness.....in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; (Acts 3: 19)