Tuesday at SpiritRest

Post by Rev. Dr. Arvid Straube, lead spiritual director
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Tuesday: going deeper

We are finishing our second full day of silence today. Our faces are more
relaxed and in spiritual direction participants report a settling in and deepening
peace. For some, there is clarity emerging about issues in their life. Or there is a
sense of safety and support for diving into the confusion.

It’s wonderful that the old and bitter theological arguments, such as atheists vs.
theists, haven’t shown up here. Participants are finding deepening and
broadening of their own practices, using the vocabulary of the holy must
relevant to them, but they are also willing to try practices from different traditions
with other vocabulary. Almost all of us have submitted prayer requests to retreat
leader Rev. Sharon Wylie and have consented to have prayers said for us. We are
engaging our own souls in a supportive community of others.

The sights and sounds around us enhance the inner exploration. The roses are
vibrantly colorful and sweetly fragrant. The lights of Los Angeles seem magical
at night from our high vantage point. It’s a metaphor for what we are doing here.
From on high, we have set ourselves apart for a while, but we look down on the
busy world of joys and sorrows to which we will soon return and pray for our
loved ones, our country and our world. And that we will return better prepared
for what the world calls from us.