I spent the week end in Augusta, MO, leading my 12th annual writer’s retreat at F.R.E.S.H. Renewal. \u00a0Many of the same individuals come yearly, but always there are a few new participants and they add a richness that’s so appreciated, much like a contrasting, vivid color woven through a tapestry in a spot where you’d least expect it.<\/p>\n
The participants and I have become good friends over the years. \u00a0And I look forward to this fall gathering with both excited and thoughtful anticipation. \u00a0It’s a restful, comforting week end, one that includes lots of laughter, much needed quiet reflection, and of course, good food. \u00a0Occasionally tears are added to the mix. \u00a0The men and women who come get honest, deeply honest about their lives as they explore and then write about their interior spaces. \u00a0That honesty, that deep digging, \u00a0gives rise to both the laughter and the necessary tears that bless all of us.<\/p>\n
This week end was no different. \u00a0There were 21 of us who gathered in the living room of the chateau to talk Friday night while we made our s’mores over the fireplace. \u00a0We went to bed knowing that Saturday would be the beginning of this particular journey, these particular writing assignments. \u00a0 Morning moved everyone to a favorite spot in the house to meditate and think and write whatever was crying to be told in response to the first assignment.<\/p>\n
I’ve thought, from year one, that there was something very special about this retreat center. \u00a0It summons the best in us, I think. \u00a0It’s as though the Spirits<\/strong><\/em> surround us, calling to us to speak the messages, all of the messages, hidden away in our hearts. \u00a0The result is that people make discoveries they didn’t even know were hidden away. \u00a0We are all blessed by what gets shared and each one of us is lifted a bit higher on our own journey as we listen to each other read.<\/p>\n We don’t gather to compare or criticize what any one of us thinks or how any one of us speaks or writes. \u00a0We leave those behaviors at home. \u00a0We come to this place as loving fellow travelers wanting nothing more than to encourage each other to stretch in whatever way one desires. \u00a0We lift spirits. \u00a0Our own is lifted too in the very act of being a loving witness to each other. \u00a0What we do in this setting is a practice that we could duplicate in every setting if we so chose. \u00a0In fact, it’s a practice that could change the world we live in if each one of us took into every setting of every day what we give so lovingly to each other here, in this retreat house in Augusta.<\/p>\n May we all consider the part we could be playing in the lives of one another now. \u00a0Look and listen and encourage. \u00a0We could move mountains. \u00a0Couldn’t we. . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I spent the week end in Augusta, MO, leading my 12th annual writer’s retreat at F.R.E.S.H. Renewal. \u00a0Many of the same individuals come yearly, but always there are a few new participants and they add a richness that’s so appreciated, much like a contrasting, vivid color woven through a tapestry in a spot where you’d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-karens-musings","category-reflections-in-the-mirror-you-and-yourself"],"yoast_head":"\n