Retreat

Ahhhh ... the North Shore in June. The grandeur ... the spaces to sit and just be ... the trails and lake that call me to move and be a part of creation. It is simply gorgeous.

I got to travel to the North Shore for the annual SOTV Women's Retreat, which, lucky me, I get to lead. We had a few snafus preparing and actually implementing the thing, but in the end, it was an amazing experience. The theme this year was "Journey to Wholeness" and the plan was to use a prayer labyrinth as the core of our program. Here's where it gets interesting. I worked with the labyrinth maven of the Twin Cities, Barbara Kellet, to procure a large canvas labyrinth, as well as some of her books and some prayer shawls, and was all ready to facilitate my first labyrinth with the SOTV women ... but! The conference room that was available to us was nowhere near the 40 feet across I had been told it would be by the management. So I had only a few hours to find a space where we could hold our labyrinth session the following morning. Panicking a bit, I called the pastor of the Lutheran church across the highway from the Bluefin resort where we were staying ... Long story short ... the pastor and his wife had a labyrinth built on their property! On the shore of Lake Superior! Four miles from our resort! With accompanying meditation garden ... Um. I'm pretty sure this was a God thing.

Seagulls soared above and songbirds trilled. The waves rolling in, the fresh air off the lake and the warm sunshine ... the wood chips crunching under our feet ... toadstools and wildflowers decorating the path ... women walking and praying, turning and pausing, receiving what God handed to us that day ... it was a completely unexpected gift.







And there is more to this wonderful story ... the pastor that I mentioned earlier, his name is William Christ ... his wife is Beryl Singleton Bissell, the author of the lovely memoir, The Scent of God. I had been wanting to read her book, and had just missed a couple of opportunities to hear her speak. And here I was, walking on her labyrinth, and enjoying her beautiful meditation garden. Beryl was not there that day; she was at a writers' workshop. About 20 of us bought her book, though. I received a lovely note from her a few days later, along with a book plate with her signature for my copy, and an offer to come and speak to our group next time we are on the North Shore. I have been savoring The Scent of God in the weeks since, not wanting it to end. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Lisa Gustafson for her beautiful photos!