Daily Archives: June 14, 2005

A lot of what I learned this weekend had to do with resting in God.  The past few months have been full of stress at home and at work.  I was in need of rest.  The retreat gave me time to rest physically, mentally and spiritually, if that is the right term for the kind of spiritual refreshing I received.  Solitude and quiet regenerate me.

We had four sessions in which we practiced Lectio Divina.  Our first was this passage from John 15 verses 1 to 5.  These are the words God spoke to me.

“…You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me as I abide in you…”

You have already been cleansed,
He says.
Rest,
He says.
I have spoken my word
To you.

Rest,
He says,
Does not mean that you let go;
As a branch
Falling from the vine.

Rest,
He says,
Means you drink deeply of my sap:
My life must flow
In and through your branch.

Rest
And be my branch.
Draw life from me.
Bear fruit.