So the girls over at Sits are awesome resource for bloggers. Every month they offer writing prompts for blog posts. It’s so cool; it reminds me of the journal prompts I give my son during the summer. Today’s prompt is perfect, especially since I had planning to share about a retreat I attended this month: …If you are a parent, how do you make time for yourself?... I just recently spent a weekend at a silent retreat and I really think it’s something I will do regularly as a way to relax and renew. Last year sometime, I was chatting with a friend about how overwhelming life had gotten and how I needed to find a place to get away from the busyness of life. She mentioned that a neighbor of ours had been regularly visiting a monastery outside of Atlanta for silent retreats. I immediately reached out to that neighbor via Facebook, unfortunately I didn't hear back from her, so I began to do my own online research. The first place I landed on was Ignatius house Jesuit retreat. Opened in December 1960 Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center was created by the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) to provide spiritual renewal for those seeking to discover and live out God’s will in their lives. The center offers weekend silent retreats, 5-8 day retreats, days of Reflection, special audience retreats and the full Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in both the 30 day and daily life form. I signed up for a session in January, but due to a family illness, I had to reschedule for March. The weekend of the retreat, I wasn't able to pack before I left for work, so I had to rush home and grab a few things for the next two days. I figured, it wasn't necessary to be a glamour girl, so I packed legging, jeans comfy shirts. Of course, I couldn't just run in and run out, my awesome son decided that he needed to have a very important conversation with me about taking his cell phone to school while I was tossing clothes in the bag. I could not wait to get to the retreat house. In classic Atlanta tradition, the traffic headed north of the city was slow, but I just kept thinking when I get there, I’m going to forget all about this…. I arrived about thirty minutes after the welcome reception started and I was afraid that I had missed something. The Retreat coordinate, Sharon was waiting for me in the foyer with a kind hello and a warm smile. She welcomed me and directed me to my room and the library where the reception was being held. The reception was very nice. There was wine and appetizers available, soft music playing and lots of nice looking people chatting. I dropped my belonging off to my room and headed to the library, I decided that I would make conversation with a stranger, because Lord knows I won’t be able to in about an hour. (Did I mention this was a silent retreat?) Well, typically being silent in large social settings isn't challenging for me, but talking sometimes talking can be, so I decided to stretch myself and I ended up getting to know a very cool lady named Chana, she was a single mom in grad school, who had worked in the education field. Who would have guessed, a kindred spirit? After the reception we had our first group session in the Chapel. It was basically a mini worship service that included a mini sermon called a "talk;" there were a total of seven scheduled over the next two days. I attempted all but one of the scheduled sessions (I had a little trouble waking up from my afternoon nap on Saturday) and I’m glad I did. Most of the retreat attendees were Catholic and the services followed traditional Catholic ritual. I had an opportunity to walk the beautiful grounds surrounding the retreat center and chapel. I also got some reading done in the evenings. The in-house chefs, Lake and Landon, did not disappoint with the daily offerings! Everything was from scratch and most ingredients were local. The topic of the final message on Sunday was about going back down the mountain. We talked about the story of Peter and the other disciples experience with Jesus and how they wanted to build tents and stay up on the mountain top, but Jesus commanded that they come down. After, my weekend ended, I felt renewed and encouraged. While, this type of reflective and contemplative time may be difficult for some, I highly recommend it for busy moms! Visit the Ignatius house website at www.ignatiushouse.org for more information about upcoming events.
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Hey There, Babe!I am a 43 year old bangle loving, deal seeking, info gathering, coffee drinking, craft doing, overthinking, God trusting mom and social worker. Archives
March 2018
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