On Retreat - 4

We go on retreat for different reasons. Maybe we want to withdraw for a while from the pressures of everyday life, to get things in perspective. Perhaps to find some hideaway, where we can experience peace and quiet, get closer to God and seek new direction. Whatever our reasons, if it is a Christian retreat, then to get the full benefit of course, we need to mean business with God, so in that respect it is serious.

There were certainly important, even pressing and painful issues that surfaced during our retreat. These weren't all solved of course, but I was given fresh purpose and direction, with plenty of stuff to work through with Jesus back home.

We arrived feeling somewhat battered and because I was expectant and eager to push in and get out all I could of the time, I was a little tense. Our retreat guide sensed this and saw my need to relax and just give God the freedom to move. It was even suggested I needed more fun in my life, starting there and then.

I spent an hour or so in the art studio playing with paint. Looking at this piece of work you wouldn't think that I am an accomplished artist. I just let myself go, dipped my fingers in and smudged and smeared and splodged and flicked to my heart's content. It may seem a bit of nonsense, but with hindsight it does make sense. It's all there - pain, tears, joy, laughter and God's creation. I let the child in me come to the fore, allowing myself to break all the rules and walk over the floor with dirty shoes. It was very satisfying and freeing - and God was smiling with me.

Some of you may be thinking that you already have plenty of fun and we need to be more serious. Others may say that as a Christian there's no place for such nonsense, with the world in the state it's in. But I would say that we need to be in touch with this side of us, especially at this time. I'm sure Jesus had His smiley moments!

The sun is out this afternoon and we are going to have some fun.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Mark 10:15 New International Version

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Getting bthe Balance Right

I'm a fan of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. In the 'Pirates of Penzance' there is a chorus: "A paradox, a paradox, A most ingenious paradox. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, That paradox."

I sometimes think that on first sight the Christian life can appear to be full of paradox's, with conflicting instructions between two extremes. For example, in the Bible we are told that salvation is a free gift, but it costs everything we have: that walking with God is effortless, but it takes effort: that we don't have to compete, but we need to run the race to win!

Of course the Bible is not a set of rules - we have been freed from all that - but it's about a love relationship with Jesus. We find the balance as we follow Him and allow Him into our lives.

Even as a Christian, I tended to swing between two extremes. There were often crises and difficulties at work which could be scary and stressful. However, as I faced the problems and the adrenalin flowed, I found it stimulating and fulfilling. In a way I didn't want to stop, so took this pattern into my private life. And then, as I tried to relax I would swing the other way and even become lethargic. There seemed to be little in between full pelt and stop.

I have discovered something about adrenalin. It boosts your energy, but it also releases a stress hormone that eventually can have a suppressive effect on the immune system. Now you just cannot live on adrenalin for too long before you get stressed out and you become ill. That's what happened to me.

My life was out of balance and I was forced to take stock and spend more time just abiding in Jesus and feeding on that love relationship.

Now, I try to flow with Him rather than do things in my strength and cause stress. I am mindful of two things. First, that God's energy and power are His, not mine - obvious, but very important - and secondly, when God's power works through us, it is effortless. When things are moving in our life in the right balance we are at rest - and that's another paradox!

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life -" John 5:39-40 New International Version

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The Burden Bearer

When walking in wild places I always went well prepared. I filled my backpack with all the essentials: maps, compass, emergency rations, extra clothing and waterproofs and much more, just in case. I had difficulty cramming everything into the bulging sack. It felt heavy to start with, but once I was into my stride I got used to it. When, after several hours of walking I was slowed down and the straps chafed my shoulders, I just reminded myself to get a bigger and better sack and forged on!

On one memorable hot day in the mountains, I began to wonder whether we would ever make it back to base. When we eventually arrived back, worn out and dehydrated, it was such a relief and joy to remove my pack and bathe in the cool clear waters of the lake. It was an exquisite joyful feeling of freedom.

A burden can be a responsibility laid upon us by others, a wrong attitude, or just the weariness of life's circumstances that we didn't choose. Whatever, it can creep upon us almost without notice. We may even feel that it is our lot and think, "this is as good as it gets" and grit our teeth and keep going. We may look for diversions to take our mind of the pain, but the weariness of it all can wear us down and effect our well-being and health. There may come a time when deep inside we are really saying, "I can't take any more!"

Scripture makes it clear that Jesus wishes to carry our burdens for us. He longs for us just to come as we are and hand them over. I often imagine, that when we offer them, He snatches them away with glee and they are gone for ever. In Biblical parlance, we have laid them at the foot of the Cross and left them there.

It may be difficult to do this if the burden seems to be crushing us. We may need help, such as a trusted friend or minister to listen. I have found it helpful to write it all down as a letter to Jesus and even afterwards burning it. Such symbolic actions can help. Once, when I realised I was carrying a heavy responsibility that wasn't for me, I picked a large rock to represent the burden and heaved it into a deep lake, never to be seen again.

Don't give up, but give over and let Jesus take the strain.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 New International Version

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Living in the Flow

When I was a boy I could hardly wait for the fair to come to town. I loved the noise and excitement of the fairground. I was particularly drawn to the helter skelter. We climbed up inside the candy-striped tower and once at the top we launched ourselves onto the slide and spiralled down the outside, whooping with glee. More modern versions are found in children's play parks and our grandchildren make a beeline for them. Even the toddlers seem fearless as they woosh down the polished stainless steel slide.

For reasons I've yet to discover they also delight in trying to go up the slide the wrong way. Usually they give up halfway as their feet slip or someone else comes hurtling down. It's just the same in the shopping malls, where, if we didn't stop them, they would try to climb up the down escalator. We try to explain that apart from being dangerous it's very exhausting and much better to use the correct one. Of course we adults would never do anything like that, or would we?

I had a full programme arranged for the other day. Things I had been meaning to do for quite a while. The problem was other things kept getting in the way. Several phone calls delayed me and then I kept bumping into people who wanted to talk. Even as I was speaking, my mind was on my own agenda and I realised I was getting uptight. Only then did it dawn on me that God had arranged things differently and I was resisting His timetable. These 'things' that were getting in the way, were relationships and people that were far more important than my own plan.

When we become Christians we stop going against the flow of God's love and provision and hand over control to the Holy Spirit. To yield to God and live in the flow of God's provision can be effortless, far more effective and even stimulating. To go against the flow causes stress and fatigue and frustrates God's purpose in our lives.

"From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God's will -" 1 Peter 4:2 Good News Bible

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