Sunday, July 18, 2021
Sunday Reflection: The Quiet
Because of continuing restrictions on entry into Canada, it looks like I will not be able to go to remote Osler Island this year. That makes me sad, and it kind of hurts my soul.
Part of it is, of course, that I love that place and the people I share it with. Had I been able to go last year, it would have been my 50th consecutive year spending time there. So, yes, I miss the place.
But on a deeper level, that week or two is a retreat in the best sense-- time away from the tumult that I invite into my life through my work and other responsibilities. We see Jesus doing this, after all: retreating to the wilderness. It was there he encountered things he did not when he was surrounded by people. And sometimes, I would imagine, we was just resting.
Sometimes, in the morning there, I will get up and pad out to a point of the island that juts out towards the deepest part of Lake Saganaga. I sit on a rock.
And that is all. That's what happens.
Sometimes, that is exactly right.
