Spiritual Retreat

Spiritual Retreats

I’ve learned many things since becoming a father, but one of the main ones is that I have some very real limits on my energy and capacity, and when I consistently ignore them just as real of consequences usually follow.

I think I’ve been pushed to my limits more this last year than almost any other previous year. In many ways this has been great, not only because the things that are pushing me to those limits are such wonderful things that fill me with joy, like taking care of Eli while balancing full-time ministry. Being pushed this hard has also been good because it’s forced me to grow and stretch, but even more than that it’s caused me to lean on God more than ever before.

I’ve been increasingly thankful for some of the practices that FOCUS has built in to being on staff. One of which is spiritual retreat days. At least twice a semester and twice in the summer we are to take a full day to go on a spiritual retreat where we focus our attention on God and where he is leading us. This comes from the common practice of pastors taking sabbaticals. Some of our staff still take longer sabbaticals, but we’ve seen that when we intentionally carve out a couple days throughout the year to rest in the Lord and refocus ourselves it does wonders for helping us build healthy practices in the rest of our time that keep us from burning out and keeping our attention on Jesus.

I just took one of those days last week, and found it so helpful. So much so that I wanted to encourage those who can to do something similar. Whether you’re in ministry or not, I think there’s something about taking some time off to spend a whole 8+ hour chunk of time to just pray, read scripture, worship, and reflect. With that time you’re able to clear away a lot more of life’s distractions, and to me it felt like I was able to dig in a lot more. This time I followed a list of reflective questions for part of the day that I wanted to share with y’all as well.

Questions to use during a spiritual retreat day:

What are my rhythms of sleep and exercise?
Are they right for the season I’m in?

What aspects of my life and ministry spark joy?
How do I regularly make space for these things?

What spiritual practices nourish my soul and 
connection to God? Am I engaging in those?

What unrealistic expectations do I have of myself, my ministry, or my church? How do these contribute to me feeling overwhelmed?

How do I (or can I) make space for creative pursuits that refresh my soul and perspective?

What do I feel from and toward God right now?
Do I feel free to express those feelings to God openly and honestly?

Is there something tough in my ministry or 
life that I have not fully lamented?

How attached to my devices am I?
When can I schedule times to unplug?

How do I prioritize building meaningful relationships that minister to me?

In what ways do I feel alone in bearing the responsibility for my ministry? Who can bear this with me?

When and where can I seek support or mentorship to address challenges in ministry or personal life?

I hope that these questions and practicing a spiritual retreat day can be as much of a blessing to you as they have been for me!

The school year starts up in 2 weeks, so be ready for less contemplative blogs and more updates on events and the craziness of campus ministry! I’m super excited, we just finalized our student leader team for this next year and its looking great!

Be praying for our outreach the first couple weeks of school, that hearts would be open to God, and that we would have the energy, wisdom, and words to reach the students that God wants us to!