For nearly 40 years now, I have practiced a discipline that is one of the sustaining forces in my life. A couple of times a year now, four times a year when I was a pastor, I go on a private retreat. Sometimes just for 24 hours – sometimes for 2 or 3 days.

These occasions are essential for me -- I am with people all the time. My life is intertwined with so many lives. Daily “quiet times,” snatches of solitude now and then, are not enough for me. I run down and I run out! So occasionally I have to set aside a deliberate time and place, move away from my normal routine, to be alone with myself and God, to reflect and meditate, to try to get it all together.

Recently I came across a journal piece, recording an experience on one of those retreats. I was alone in a little house near the ocean…