On the barstool on Sunday I spoke a little about going on the 5 night silent retreat a few weeks ago. I wanted to tell you a little more about it.
Lake Coleridge Village is a beautiful place in autumn. It is on the Te Araroa trail and the trail runs right through the property we stayed on. It is called Powerhouse Lodge. It was the single persons living quarters when the power station was built. The person who was managing the power station in the 50’s and 60’s also collected trees, particularly conifers and there is an arboretum that you can wander in. People on the retreat went for 4 hour walks to Lake Ida and other places (you could even walk some of the Te Aroroa trail). The retreat was structured with morning and night prayer (involving us sitting in silence for ½ an hour together) and a small session (1/2 hour a day) thinking about desert spirituality. We also had a spiritual direction slot each day with one of the retreat leaders. Our meals were all made for us and they were beautiful and lovingly prepared and presented home cooking. It was a treat.All this is such a boring way to speak about a beautiful gift of a week.
There were many invitations from our loving God through the week. To spend time in the beauty of this spectacular land; the warmth of the fire and a prayer from one of the retreat leaders; the colour of a jigsaw puzzle and endless craft/art supplies; to be outside with time to breathe, sit and walk; the playground in Lake Coleridge and the basket swing; companionable silence with the other retreatants; no technology (by choice!); not being overwhelmed by busyness and pulls on our attention; lots of beautiful spots to pause in the sunshine; time to think and feel deeply; a chance to reset and re-prioritise; time to rest and be.
They shared a quote from John O’Donohue which says, ‘The visible is only the shore of the invisible’. It was a privilege to spend time on this shore, looking out towards the invisible and seeing God’s love spreading wider and wider into all the mystery that is there.
It’s hard to put into words how special it was so I hope these photos give you a small sense of it. I’ve put my name down for the retreat next year and I’m already looking forward to it.
My prayer is you will sense the love and wonder of God this week.
Take care
Helen
