the dreaded R word

Going on a retreat can be daunting. It begins with the anxiety of trying to clear your schedule so you can just go. Then, you need to figure out what to take with you. Then, you continuously ask yourself if you want to put the money out for a retreat. Finally, you even question whether going on this retreat is the right choice.

I, like many others, also know the joys of retreats. A retreat is a time when I look forward to shutting off the cell phone and any other electronic I own. It is a time when I am focused on the people around me, but most importantly, I start to really talk with God about the issues I’m facing.

Retreats can get a bad rap, right up there with confession and adoration. However, it would not shock my friends to know that I was recruiting everyone to attend the retreat with me. It was to the point where my friends joked that I brought them kicking and screaming. Yet, they all thanked me for the opportunity in the end.

A retreat is a place where you can deal with deep feelings you often don’t get to confront and then share them with God. There are those issues you want to throw in a box and never deal with again, but those issues come up at the retreat. All joking aside, God also has a way of carrying you kicking and screaming into the chapel for adoration. Then, God has the power to say, “I got you into adoration. Now, I am going to force you into the confessional kicking and screaming, too!”

On a retreat, you may end up of walking out of that confessional in tears, but more importantly, you come out of the retreat a changed person. You see things in a totally different light. Things you thought were sins turn out to not be your sins. Answers to questions that were eating at your soul and making you doubt everything become totally clear. However, retreat for me is not about confession and adoration. Retreat is about spending quality time with Christ and others. It is about becoming one with God and listening to where he is calling me to be in my life. At times, I knew that there were no places to run away from God. The only thing I could do was walk. And God and I walked tons.

Retreats are also about God putting people into our lives we would never the opportunity to meet and enjoy. From my last few retreats, I have met some of my closest friends. These are people who may not understand my struggle with God and my own faith. Yet, they are the ones who understand that I sometimes just need to stop hiding and face the world. At the end of the day, retreats give us the opportunity to learn more about ourselves and what God is calling us to do. Take the plunge and go on a retreat. You may go kicking and screaming, but in the end you will thank me, too.