Quiet House Adventures: Day 2

My second day I woke up grabbed some juice, my Bible, and journal and headed for the patio area overlooking the canyon. it was a bit cloudy but it was still awesome to see the canyon and feel the wind. But before I could start a little friend came nervously walking up to see if I remembered to put out any "treats" for them. So I got up and went to put out some corn for them. It was then back to the patio.

But how fun to be "interrupted" by a deer who, much like a puppy, trusted me to feed him. How awesome is God's surprises and creation. I immediately thought of the Hymn all creatures of our God and King!

All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

Refrain

O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in Heaven along,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou rising moon, in praise rejoice,
Ye lights of evening, find a voice!

Refrain

Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for thy Lord to hear,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou fire so masterful and bright,
That givest man both warmth and light.

Refrain

Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One!

It's appropriate that St Francis of Assisi penned the words above.... he lived in wonder of all God's creation and I was smack dab in the middle of so much majestic beauty.

The Quiet House Adventures...Meditating on Psalm 103

Okay I guess I need to show you what the house looked like and how it contributed to the awesomeness of staying in "silence" for the time I did.

Front of the House

Love this scripture that is above the front door.

So I walked in and was not disappointed...

Great Room

So I walked in and William gave me the grand tour. 

View of bedroom from great room

stairs or really ladder to the loft from the bedroom

Kitchen/ Breakfast room/ Reading Nook

Close up of Reading Nook

Reading Nook was awesome at night. You just turned on the outside flood lights and you could continue to watch the deer and animals outside..It was also awesome sitting there my second night during one very wild Thunderstorm :-) 

Here is the view from the loft. You get to see the great room and on the other side, the hillside complete with a fabulous rock Cross. 

Up in the loft you had cushions all around and spotlights...so it was also a great place to read as well as just sit and pray.

Awesome prayer bench with view of outside

Fireplace wasn't usable unfortunately, fire ban, but how cool that it had a sky light at its top. It made great sound effects from the rain. 

The floors were cut stone. Great colors and textures.

It was getting late when I arrived so had to go ahead and unpack my food and fix my dinner. Then I had a great time of worship...yes I cheated and took my music and tiny speakers so I could "listen" to someone other than me sing :-) 

First Song/ Album I cranked up was

First Soundtrack

I truly wanted to be authentic in my retreat as I started... um yeah it didn't last beyond 15 minutes. So I cranked out one of my oldie faves from college years. I love this album...

it has such great scripture songs.

Then I sat down with my journal and my Bible and started working on listening.
The scripture that I sat with that night was: Psalm 103
you can read it here...if you don't have your Bible handy.

I loved sitting with this. There is so much in the Psalms anyway to be affirmed by what God says to us but also just to use it to praise Him was also great.

Much more to share...but I will end for now...

By the way, what is your favorite Psalm and why?

First Day Of Quiet House Retreat

It all started Here and let me just say I was a bit worried about my car getting through all this water…now it looks okay on the car in front of me…but this is a river bed and there are dips and hollow areas…and the water gets DEEPER.. and I don’t have a 4 wheel drive ..its a Honda Accord for pity's sake! Um not exactly built for offroading. But the camp director assured me that it was going to be okay that it wasn’t too deep and he was behind me in his 4 wheel drive off road big 'ol truck just in case my engine stalled..seriously. So the adventure began…(insert smile here)

No rewind…the adventure began when I entered the camp and there was a sign that read make sure care is in low gear, steep incline ahead. Okay I thought , bring it on! After all I am used to the NC mtns and riding off roads up there. So let just say it was a WAHOO moment as I shifted down to 1^st gear to slow things down. This was fun….now back to the above part of the story.

So after a knuckle whitening ¼ mile drive I made it. And then we reached the lodge and I got to load all my stuff into the directors truck for the rest of the trek up the trail. After apologizing for all my stuff, which by the way Dad he said it was fine and he had seriously seen a ton more that I was fine. See F I N E …not too much. (smiling at my Dad)

Alright I made it to the house…all I had to say was WOW! I am loving this! It was even more than I had imagined. So I got unpacked and settled in. Then I went outside to feed the deer and fill the bird feeders. The director said as soon as I put out the deer corn they would come and boy was he right, just like little dogs.

So after this start to the day, I got myself situated and started to settle in for the night.

Looking forward to the night and day ahead....

Anticipating Silence

Okay I have already written about my quiet retreat and it starts tomorrow afternoon. While I would like to think silence isn't "deafening" to me I am thinking I might just be proven wrong this weekend. But the whole point of this retreat is to truly live out the Psalm 46:10. In particular the "Be Still" part and to know Him.
Have you ever thought about all the noise we have around us ..constantly? I have to admit I have to have some white noise to sleep by...crazy I know but I have tested the no noise at my grandmothers before..she lived in the country..no traffic or other city noises around. And it was "deafening". I always had to go and grab a floor fan and turn it on, yes even in the dead of winter, so I could sleep.
My prayer is that while the silence might be "deafening" to me I pray that His voice will be equally as loud.
Here's a challenge...try the "no media" thing some day when you can. Turn off the TV, computer, cellphone, etc. I would love to hear what you learned from the experience.