Responsively YoursResponsively Yours
"Women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves; that firm strand which will be the indispensable center of a whole web of human relationships....Every person, especially every woman, should be alone some time during the year, some part of each week, and each day."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh in Gift from the Sea
Anne Morrow Lindbergh was talking about the need of each woman to find the time and space to retreat into her inner self for renewal, restoration, rediscovery and reawakening. A retreat is a spiritual discipline that can help us center ourselves in the God that is within each of us.
Retreats can last several days or three minutes. They can mean going away to a new physical space or a turning toward inward space. A retreat allows an individual to examine feelings, needs and desires without being bombarded with those of others. A retreat allows time free of the demands of others.
Retreating has been a part of women’s lives for many centuries. Biblical women retreated in various ways:
Women such as Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila or Hildegard of Bingen wrote of their inner struggles and helped the people who lived around them know of the path to God. Women hymn writers during the 19th and 20th centuries often found the inspiration they needed in their "times apart" even in the midst of caring for their families.
To retreat is to find an inner balance that allows an individual to return to the daily events with a refocused and refreshed outlook. Jennifer Louden in her book, The Woman’s Retreat Book, says each retreat should have:
Retreats come in all shapes. Some persons like to journal, to answer their questions in writing. Others prefer to draw or doodle. Some like to walk or wash dishes. Others may choose to reflect on Scripture or poetry or listen to music. Prayer is essential in all retreats.
Any space can be the sacred place of retreat, but some prefer a special space that speaks to their being. Some people take short retreats in the midst of their work by looking out a window or walking to the water cooler. Others may do so on the bus or in the car or even in the midst of a meeting by tuning-out a speaker or discussion.
There is no right retreat, but we all have the need to retreat regularly. Phoebe H. Brown (1783-1861) was a poor woman with a husband who was an unskilled laborer and often out of work. She had several children and other relatives under her care. She took a daily retreat, which she wrote about it in this poem that appears in several of our early denominational hymnals.
I love to steal awhile away
From every cumbering care,
and spend the hours of setting day
In humble, grateful prayer.
I love in solitude to shed
The penitential tear,
And all his promises to plead
Where none but God can hear.
I love to think on mercies past,
And future good implore,
And all my cares and sorrows cast
On him whom I adore.
I love by faith to take a view
of brighter scenes in heaven;
The prospect doth my strength renew,
While here by tempests driven.
Thus, when life’s toilsome day is o’er,
May its departing ray
Be calm at this impressive hour,
And lead to endless day.
Ms. Brown’s language, though stilted to our ears, speaks of her need each day to have space for prayer, for tears, for dreaming, for comfort, for a sense of calm in her faith. We can imagine that some days she came to her retreat in joy and at other times filled with sorrow and burdens. No matter her condition, it appears she returned to her ordinary life refreshed and restored with a renewed faith.
To retreat is sometimes seen as going backwards, but retreat in the spiritual sense is a time to move ahead, to grow, to develop a closer relationship with God. May each of us retreat to find our center and God’s presence there.
Responsively Yours ,
Joyce D. Sohl
Deputy General
Secretary
Women's Division