I took a day off of work a couple of weeks ago for a day long personal prayer retreat. This was the first time I have ever done that and if you haven't done one yet, I would highly recommend it! Here are some things I did and learned:
1. I am easily distracted when I am at home, so I made a schedule of places to go. I went to a few coffee shops and a local park. I love sitting in coffee shops, so I picked a few of my favorites. Next time I would think more strategically about where I am going since one of the coffee shops was a little to loud and hard to concentrate in.
2. I left my computer at home. I probably should have left my phone at home, too. Try to go unplugged, you'll be glad you did.
3. I had done a half day prayer retreat about a month before this. That one I planned out specifically what I was going to do with my time. With the full day retreat, I had a general idea in my head, but I didn't write a schedule out like I had done previously. I think it worked both ways. It was nice
to have written down exactly what I wanted to do during my half day retreat since my time was limited. I purposely left my time and activities more open when I did the full day retreat in order to be flexible with what The Holy Spirit wanted to do.
4. Bring your journal and get ready for a serious hand cramp. Since I was moving around to different places, I would start each place journaling and praying. I would also get ready to move on to the next place the same way. I wrote down prayers and my thoughts on the Bible passages I was reading throughout the day and then an overview of the whole day when it was over.
5. Do a prayer walk. I went to a large park in town, left my phone in the car and spent an hour walking around, praying and listening for God's voice. What a good way to get rid of all the distractions!
6. Do the things that connect you most with God. I went to coffee shops and a park because I feel easily connected to God in those places. Go anywhere that you feel that way about or do activiteis that connect you to God. One of my favorite places to do this is the ocean, but since I live 5 hours away from it, I settled for a local pond. It had seagulls, so it was like being at the ocean. After a little while of sitting in a bench, the seagulls choose to fly directly over me and I knew it was time to move or get pooped on.
I hope that you will take the time to do some sort of prayer retreat, whatever might work with your schedule right now. Here are some resources I used to help you get started:
How to Plan a Personal Prayer Retreat
Retreat Finder - This is a great site to search for a retreat center in your area, but know that it does include centers for many different faiths.
Happy retreating!
No comments:
Post a Comment