Random thoughts have been rambling around in my head for the last couple of days. A three day silent Ignatian retreat will do that to a person. One has a lot of time to simply be still and listen. I can do this at home for shorter periods of time but if I try and take an extended period of quiet things around home just begin to creep in. This is neither good or bad it just happens.
So when I get a chance to get away I do what I can to take advantage of it.
So what does someone do with 72 hours of silence? Listen at the conferences (the retreat leader shares some thoughts with us), pray, sleep, wander, ponder, and eat. The whole retreat is set up so you don’t have to think about anything but God. You sit in the same chair in the chapel, you eat at the same table and chair, and the schedule is the same for all three days so you don’t have to spend time wondering about these things. And it is all done in silence, except for the words of the retreat leader. It is about focusing on the still small voice of God. It’s about a sacred conversation between you and the Creator of all. It’s about being present with God and God alone. He is the true creator of the retreat.
Much of what I am hearing is still a work in progress. I have a lot more pondering to do before I know what exactly it all means. I have created a colorful mind map to try and help me make sense of it all. Some ideas are new, some I have been ruminating on for a short time, and a couple of themes keep coming back. I’ll be sharing about most of this in future postings.
There are two things I want to share here that need little pondering to being to practice but will take a lifetime to perfect. Micah 6:8 says:
He has told you, O man what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, and to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God.
As I look at these words of the prophet Micah I know that I need to do a better job of:
- Doing Justice (as God would deal with people)
- Loving Kindness (as God would love people)
- Walking humble with my God (God’s way, not my way)
What would our cities and nation look like if we (if I) practices these principles from Micah? I can’t tell you what this may look like in your life, I still need to fully understand what it will look like in my life. The key is understanding what God’s want from you not what you want God to be for you.
The second thing I need to do a better job at is simply noticing God. Where is it I encounter God during the day. In my Soul Care class I have my students do a God Hunt. An exercise where the spend some time each day reflecting on when and where they noticed God. It could be an encounter with another person, it could be in scripture, or it could be in a couple 
beautiful Arizona sunset. We can encounter God in so many different ways that sometimes I think we (I) take God’s gifts to us for granted. There is a practice that goes by many different names The Examen of Consciousness, The Daily Examen, or Praying Backwards Through The Day that is designed to get one reflecting on the day one just lived. By noticing God we can better understand who God is and how He is choosing you use us in His work here on planet earth.
My parting words of action to you from what I have been pondering while sitting with God: do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God, and notice what God is doing around you; then as Henry Blackaby would say, “join him.”