Before any fence is removed....

 These beautiful walls and fences

I see around me this week

at the Abbey of Gethsemani

 came to mind as I was reading

Ravi Zacharias' book this afternoon.

 I interrupted my reading

to take a walk...

 God HAS provided fences,

boundaries and walls for

our well-being!

Taking Stock

Here it is!  Mid-March already...

I heard birds singing as I washed my face and brushed my teeth 

at my upstair's bathroom sink this morning.

Winter is passing. Quicker this year than last, it seems to me.

Why my thoughts wandered to June and our upcoming retreat

 to The Abbey of Gethsemani, I don't know.

But they did. 

Wistfully, I opened its web page and caught up with a few of the monthly happenings

there since the first of the year.

January found the monks themselves retreating.

Somehow, this brought me comfort 

and heightened my expectations and yearnings for my own retreat!

Marked by silence and simplicity, this was a summary of the retreat:
On the individual level, monks were encourage to discern
what they needed from this time of extra quiet and solitude.
For some, that may indeed have meant some rest.  
For others, it was a chance to simplify.
"For all, it is a time of taking stock," Dom Elias said.
...Sigh...
Today, in a smaller way, I too will seek to be silent.
To be simple and
to take stock.

My Gethsemani

"My" desk - postcards, scissors, journal, tape, Bible, hand lotion...

View from "my" window

Hanging above "my" bed

Some serious reading pleasure

Sweet, Sweet Silence

I shared the silence with this man as
we spent the past week at the Abbey of Gethsemani - Kentucky.

 Near perfect weather,

  

beautiful scenery,

simple and healthy meals,

 trails to walk,

 hills to climb,

books to read and quiet places to read them,

Prayers and the Psalms.
Solitude and Silence.
Sweet, sweet silence.

Three To-Dos

On what would have been travel-home day of my Gethsemani week (see previous post), 

my husband and I spent a couple of hours at Barnes and Noble. 

 I settled in with a stack of magazines, my journal and four-colored fine-tipped pen.  

I ended up taking a few photos which I've already posted on another blog

 and recorded three (yes, only three) "to-dos" in my journal.

Placing this bird on this stump was one of the three--

the only one accomplished so far.

In commenting on my prior post, Terra thanked me for my honesty about following
and not following my plan. To this I replied:

"Had I made no plans, I probably would have never lit a candle,

would have pigged out on sweets, prayed and journaled less than I did etc."

While I hope to get to the other two items I jotted down at Barnes and Noble,

I'm ahead of myself just by having accomplished ONE of the three!

At least that's the way I look at it.
Reminder to self:  Don't be discouraged by not accomplishing EVERYTHING on my lists.
***

Oh, and while I was out there placing the bird on the stump,

I pulled a bunch of weeds and called in the reinforcement (that would be my husband)

to cut off some branches that had been damaged by the storm the night before!

Commit your work to the Lord,
    and your plans will be established.

Proverbs 16:3

Season of Second Chances

For a second year in a row, circumstances prevented me from
retreating at the Abbey of Gethsemani.  Though disappointed, I decided to implement an alternative while remaining at home--
A Faux-Gethsemani experience.

The plan, recorded in my journal, included:

1.  No desserts - focus on fruit and veggies
2.  Read Bounds on prayer
3.  Pray
4.  Journal
5.  Serve others in love
6.  Candle daily
7.  Record blessings each day

Today - four days into my "experience"- I am lighting the candle for the first time.  I had desserts one evening, have fallen asleep almost every night a page or two into Bounds, have prayed little, journaled some, served feebly, and recorded blessings once.

In spite of my sporadic and interrupted efforts, I have a sense of being guided gently into a Season of Second Chances.  This, the title of a (secular) novel I finished prior to my Faux-Gethsemani week, has emerged as the theme of my week. 

Monday, on what would have been Travel Day, I received news of Elisabeth Elliot's death.  Many of her quotes have passed my computer screen throughout the week, contributing to and solidifying my passion to serve Jesus Christ faithfully.

"I have one desire now - to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord,

 putting all my energy and strength into it.” Elisabeth Elliot

Then I read this from the pen of  Ed Stetzer  "The comfortable do not create movements. Instead, they originate with those who are desperate, demanding something different. Movements come from those who become more committed than they are now...We all need a cause bigger than ourselves, which can drive us to action with a holy dissatisfaction. I'd say that when women and men allow their faith to be tamed by the world, they end up with a 'nice religion' uninterested in the big issues like global evangelization, world poverty, and injustice. That's why I love passionate people. We need more, not less of them.  Christianity needs unreasonable people who are uncomfortable with the status quo and unwilling to be content with the current mode of life and church. We all need a cause bigger than ourselves, which can drive us to action with a holy dissatisfaction."   

This morning as I lit a  candle for the first time this week, I did so with the awareness that today is the last full day of my Faux-Gethsemani experience.  I'm thankful for all the "second chances" I've had in my life.   At age 66-and-a-half, I borrow Elisabeth's words and say with enthusiasm and expectation "I have one desire now - to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord,  putting all my energy and strength into it."  So help me God!

 Unreasonable
Uncomfortable
Driven by a holy dissatisfaction
SO thankful for another Season of Second Chances

Revival in Room 403

 Nancy Leigh DeMoss just tweeted: "Safe in the Arms of Jesus. Elisabeth Elliot, 12/21/26 - 6/15/15" ~ Elisabeth Elliot, a woman whose example of constancy & faith has been of GREAT influence in my life, though I've never met her personally.....

It's kind of a surreal experience to read and digest this news as I sit beside the bedside of my mother while she sleeps. If I calculate correctly, Mother is the same age and also suffers from dementia. (I believe Elizabeth Elliot lived with dementia for over 10 years.)

An album of Fernando Ortega (YouTube) is playing in the background.   "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing."  I'm having a sort of personal revival in Room 403 of the Special Care Unit.   How graciously the Lord is ministering to me.

(And it's only the first day of my Faux-Gethsemani week.

Explanation of that to follow in another post.  Maybe.)

Regrets? I've Had a Few

Last night I received a text message.

From my friend.  Possibly upon her arrival at the Abbey of Gethsemani.

I had reserved a spot, too--and looked forward to my third retreat

at this beautiful place.

But the closer the date came, 

the more I realized how unwise it was for me to go.

Circumstances made my decision clear.

But regrets?  You bet!

"Send me a photo or two", I texted her back.

And with its coming this morning, more regrets.

Then I remembered a prayer I'd read recently

written by Scotty Smith that included these lines:

"Jesus...help us sort through the issues.  Show us what is repent-able and what is repairable;

and bring quiet to our noisy hearts so we can hear you speak.

Convince us, yet again, that we need your presence much, much more than we need circumstances and people to change."

With my personal Amen to the prayer, I set about to "repair".  

To create a faux-Gethsemani experience HERE

independent of circumstances and people. 

And HERE--right HERE I anticipate hearing Him speak; experiencing His presence.

Some regrets ARE repent-able.  Others repairable.

Thankfully, THIS one is repairable.

The Power of a Scripture (or Two)

This morning, my husband read these words to me out of our devotional book:  "Remember this:  It's the Word that does the work, not the one holding onto it."  I needed this!  I knew that God's Word is like a sharp sword...powerful and effective, but sometimes I act as though victory depends on MY strength rather than the power of God's Word. 

Signs like this advocating silence on the Abbey of Gethsemani property ensured that the atmosphere would be conducive to prayer and meditation.  Even on dining room tables there were signs saying, "Silence Spoken Here".  In that silence, I read--books and the Bible.  My journal contains several  specific Bible verses through which God "spoke" to me in the silence.  Here are a few.

Numbers 24:13 "What the Lord speaks, that will I speak."  (This in relationship to an upcoming speaking appointment I have.)

Numbers 33:55  "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell."  (This is respect to a few lazy habits I have.)

Deuteronomy 1:6-8  "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey and go to the hill country....Go in and take possession of the land."  (Turn being the word that was significant to me.)

Deuteronomy 4:7  "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us...?"  (God is near!)

Psalm 111:10  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding."  (Practicing the fear of the Lord brings understanding.)

Oh, dear!  I  realize it would be too long a post to recopy all the Scriptures I copied into my journal.  But I'm challenged to keep this Word in my mind and on my lips.  No matter what the world, my flesh or the devil tries to tell me, I will reply with what "is written".  I will let the Word fight its own fight.

The Power of a Sentence (or Two)

What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this: It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%. (Dr. John Piper)

Such was my experience at the Abbey last week.  My Bible, journal and favorite pen (a Bic four-color fine tipped instrument) accompanied me just about everywhere I went.  Much time was spent at a dining table between the hours of 4:30 a.m and 7:00 breakfasts, and outdoors in a chair overlooking the gardens throughout the morning and again in the early evenings.  A library of reading material was available and many of my sentences came from the books I read.  Here are only a few of the jottings from my journal pages.

• Vacare Deo - totally free to the Lord today.
• "Lord, let me seek you by wanting you, and let me want you by seeking you.  Let me find you by loving you, and by loving you, find you."  (Anselm)
• Don't pray for water.  Pray for thirst.
• Christians are not entitled - but endowed.
• Compassion is to suffer with--NOT give solutions!
• Learn to do a common thing in an uncommon manner (George Washington Carver, I think)
• Saints are those who judge possibilities and choices by asking, "What is this in reference to eternal life?"
• Nequid nemis - "Nothing in excess."  (Terence)
• "There is nothing as out of place in a Christian as excess."  (St. Benedict)

the Abbey of Gethsemani

It would be difficult to capture the full essence of my five days at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky.  This large plaque hung just outside the entrance to the Guest Wing of this impressive complex.  We truly were "received like Christ".

This was my bed in the comfortable room that included a desk, a couple of chairs, and a bathroom.  Small, simple, and immaculate.

Chairs like these just outside the dining hall  provided places to read and think, or to simply enjoy the quiet of the gardens.  Meals were eaten in silence, and windows looked out on this scene and the gardens below the wall.  See more of the gardens and flowers here....

I DO have pictures of the chapel and formal places of prayer and worship, but small reminders like this one "spoke" as loudly as the bells that rang throughout the day calling us:  "Listen and attend with the ear of your heart" (St. Benedict of Nursia).