This week I am away from my normal routine at a  retreat center attending a four day workshop on spiritual direction.  This seemed a very good time to think about a practice we have not yet mentioned, retreat.

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun in Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us writes,

“Retreats are specific and regular times apart for quietly listening to God and delighting in his company.  Retreats remove us from the daily battle into times for refreshing, retooling, renewing and unwinding….  Retreating, in the traditional sense , is not about gaining more information … not about getting away to get things done … not a way to catch up on our reading or email.” (pp 66 – 67)

Very often people go to “retreats” filled with “lectures, late nights, constant activity, and interaction.”  Calhoun points out such events are not a bad thing, but are not “a retreat from the busyness and distractions of life.  It is not a time set apart with God alone.” (p 67)

How about you?  Do you have a plan to remove yourself from the busyness of life and turn your full attention to God alone?