My retreat day, “Practicing the Presence of God”, was an amazing experience for me on December 4.

We had a lot of snow the night before, six to eight inches. I drove around early in the morning, cursing and grinding my teeth, until I found a way to Pilgrim Park that was actually plowed. Then I called all the participants to tell them how to come. And, amazingly, they did! There was only one person who canceled because of the weather; the 14 other people who had signed up all struggled out in the still-falling snow, carpooling and helping each other dig out, all to spend the day there at Pilgrim Park with me. Even Stephanie Crumley-Effinger made it, and all the way from Richmond, IN, driving with her husband the night before. I was so amazed and grateful.

The first person to arrive after me was Susan Hale. She greeted me with a big smile and the observation, “Isn’t this snow a wonderful blessing?” I have to admit that I hadn’t been thinking of it as a blessing until that moment. The chapel where we met is an intimate octagonal building in the woods with floor to ceiling windows all around, and the view of the woods filling up with snow was just amazing. Meagan Johnson took some great pictures—she has an album of them on Facebook.

Well, we started late, and I had to change my plans for the day, and I was pretty stressed out and tired at the beginning of it, let alone at the end. But it didn’t matter: it was a blessed day anyway. My thanks to all of you who were there to share it with me. And tell your friends: the next retreat is February 12.

May you have a blessed Christmas, friends!