I was given the gift of 48 hours of solitude last weekend.
48 hours of a simple life – closed door praying, listening, reading and writing.

No Internet. No social media.

I have to admit I was slightly nervous. It’s so easy for me to hide in busyness, my identity in my non stop mom-wife life.

Within my retreat hills I found a thin place. Not only as a result of frugal feasting, but a place where the things of heaven are easily touched.

A synesthesia of solitude I will hold onto for dear life.

Vastness, wild and symmetry all woven together.

I’m desperate for everyone to realize this gift.

You would never be the same.You would seek until you found…and He can be found, because hidden treasure is your promise.

The glitter of gold on a murky bed. The energy seam within dusty coal.

It requires intention, listening, waiting – lingering longer and drawing away.

Walking slower and further than you thought, yes, just around that bend, over that hilltop.

Catching the movement of water, sitting in a tree.

Listening.

One of the books I devoured was ‘A Holy Wild’ by Mark Buchanan.
He says this about exuberant creation ‘You couldn’t name it all in a lifetime. You would have to plunder dictionaries in twelve languages to describe adequately one square foot of it. All this God makes for the sheer joy of making things. Most of it for His eyes only and then He goes off and makes something else’

There is much more I could write out of the experience because I believe it is so crucial to life.
But I’d like to live in that place a while first, where Sabbath becomes the heart not just a day.

For now here are my pics.
Enjoy the story.

‘If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met’. Matthew 6:30.

Michelle xoxo