I am writing a daily blog (Monday to Friday) on preparing spiritually and physically

to lead a Pilgrimage of 100 miles in September.

for details of the Pilgrimage, click on the dropdown Cotwold Pilgrimage bar at the top of this page

Physical preparation is good: Spiritual preparation is even better.

It's all to easy to concentrate on the former and forget the latter.

It's time to put a date in my diary for a day spent with the Lord.

I was asked on Sunday how one fills a day of time with God when you don't really know where to start. She is off to Harnhill for a week; plenty of prayer but plenty of free time too. What to do all day?

So, for her and for others, today is all about ONE DAY with the Lord.

Tomorrow will be about an EXTENDED TIME with the Lord - based on a 10 day silent retreat.

And today is to remind myself joyfully to anticipate my own upcoming day away - in the diary for the week after next!

A DAY FOR RE:FRESH, RE:NEW, RE:CREATE, RE:TREAT

Sometimes (often, most of the time) we need rest – physical, emotional, yes, but mostly spiritual time away from normal everyday busy-ness. I need to make time for meeting with God over a longer period, time for spiritual renewal and self-examination.

In Jesus’ time, long walks were part of everyday life – when one could presumably reflect and pray and think, although it was probably no easier than it is now.

Jesus certainly 'drew aside' from everything for quiet moments, often climbing the hillside to do so.

And so I need to build in times of quiet, times of enjoying God’s creation. At least once a year (and three or four or five times is better) it helps if I go to a place of quiet and beauty and just BE.

If you've never done this before, it may be strange at first. Maybe start with just a few hours – a half day; or maybe only an hour for the very first time. Start small and keep adding. Don’t wait until you feel you can take on a whole day or you may never begin.

And if after a while you have had enough, don’t feel guilty. Either push on through to see what happens; or leave it there and try again another time. Or try something entirely different.

Here are some suggestions which I have personally found work for me and for many others; feel free to add to it, experiment with it – find what works for you, what draws you closer to the Lord, refreshes and re-energises you.

PLANNING A DAY OR HALF DAY RETREAT

PLANNING: there’s the start. If I don't plan, it doesn't happen. I have to PLAN when to do this and write down the date and time, and the place, otherwise I'll procrastinate and never start. Then I begin to look forward eagerly to this special time, asking already for the Lord to meet with me and refresh and renew me.

SUGGESTIONS OF THINGS TO TAKE: Bible, journal, pen; family photos or special momentoes; praise worship (CD, iPod,etc); candles (& matches); post card of a painting. Light, easily prepared food. Comfortable clothes and shoes for walking. Nice soap and bubbles for the bath.

- I like to get away, head for the countryside, a retreat centre, a friend’s country cottage. If you can’t, make a special area at home with some of your favourite things, maybe a rocking chair, a large cushion, scented candles. Get it ready in advance and every time you pass, be excited in anticipation. Check if you need to remove a ticking clock or anything else distracting.

- When going away, it's good to get there the night before. I love to have a long relaxing bubble bath and allow the cares and stresses to begin to slip away and thenretire early to bed with a relaxing drink (Horlicks?!?!?!?! Camomile tea …) and I do love a hot water bottle at night! Snuggling in, I read the Scriptures planned for tomorrow - but just read them, nothing else, and then put the light out early. Bliss!

MORNING: PART ONE

BEING WITH GOD

Awake whenever – no alarm clock! And I don’t DO anything, for at least half an hour. Breakfast: taking a mug of steaming coffee and sitting on a sunny rock, or under a tree, or by a log fire and just sitting and BE-ing with God.

Then it's time for an extended praise and thanksgiving toGod, focusing on all the things and times and people I'm grateful for. If Ineed a reminder or a prompt, I can look at the photos and momentoes I brought with me and praise and thank God for what they each mean to me.

And then a fun form of gratitude: listing 10 things in my journal for which I'm grateful and thanking God for each of them, with the focus onblessings, not problems. Then another 10 and thank Him; and another …. And so on. Sometimes I will set myself a minimum, say 30 or 50 or …. and see where I end up. No pleases, just thanks!

A Psalm. Not a difficult one, but one of my favourites, such as a praise one; and I read it out loud. Slowly. Twice. Then I put the Bible down and reflect on it, maybe recall words or phrases that stood out or leaped at me, or meant something. Then write them down. Read aloud again – slowly. Maybe learn by heart one of the special verses. Write it down. Ask the Lord if He is saying something to me through it.

After all of that, I turn to either my normal daily Bible reading, or to a special Bible passage; or perhaps to a whole smallbook (eg Philemon or Jude, or one of the Epistles).

I can spend at least an hour or even two on this:

read it aloud, slowly; not something there is normally time or inclination to do. But it's revelatory.

relish the phrases;

repeat it until the meanings truly sink in.

Listening – letting God speak to me through it. Mark/write/record what happens.

What does it mean?

Is there a promise, a command?

Something I don’t understand which I need to look up another time or ask someone about later?

How will affect my life today, tomorrow …?

Reflect and pray it through.

MORNING: PART TWO

GETTING OUT

One of my favourite things is then to go for a long leisurely walk and enjoy an extended time of praise. And when I am far away from civilisation and anyone who could possibly hear I sing praise songs aloud in the glories of creation (the psalmist recommends making a joyful NOISE to the Lord so then I don’t worry that I am not an opera singer!) Then I can envision God looking at me with love and walking beside me with His arm on my shoulder - like a friend accompanying me on the journey, in love. I either sing unaccompanied or I have some things on the iPod to sing along to.

Prayer: Then and only then, either whilst out or on my return, I pray and probably write down my prayers -

- for my family, my friends, my loved ones. Their situation and things they are coping with.

- And for my self, spiritually, emotionally, physically, socially, intellectually:

God, when you look at me, what do you see?

Lord, how am I doing?

What do you want to change in me?

I pray about my dreams, my challenges, my diary.

LUNCH TIME

I can enjoy a leisurely lunch at some point (or I may want to fast for the day) and listen to some worship music – of whatever type I prefer or happen to choose for this moment.

AFTERNOON: PART ONE

After lunch, I take a nap; rest and put my feet up. I do nothing for a while, with a cup of tea. And if I fall asleep, that’s fine too. He gives His Beloved rest!

With the second cup of tea, I mightlook at a religious painting or a picture that speaks to me of God and meditate on it and put myself into it and allow the Lord to work in me through it.

What is it about this picture which touches something in me?

What is God saying to me in this picture?

What do I see of God?

Where is HE? Where am I?

What will I take with me from this time?

AFTERNOON: PART TWO

I enjoy reading through the late afternoon - a helpful but probably fairly light book – maybe a Christian biography – a book which will bless, inspire, enthuse me.

Finally, almost regretfully, it's time to return home listening to my favourite Christian praise music on the car CD player.

Sometimes it's hard to return to the noise and bustle of home, family, pets, etc. But I know that often happens, and so I pray about it on my return journey, asking for grace - and lots and lots of patience, and for the fruit of the Spirit as my loved ones crowd around and normal life resumes. And I hope I remembered to make sure supper was prepared either before I left or by someone else!

If you are returning to an empty dark flat, ask for the love of Jesus to be there to welcome you home, for His light to shine in the darkness and for His presence to surround you.

Finally, I remember to write the date in my diary for my next retreat.

I would love some of your ideas too -

What do you find helps you the most when spending time with God?

Where do you go?

What do you do?

I pick it up. A large, beautiful, Folio edition, green bound and illustrated. Caress it, remember it, wondering where is the copy I read as a child?

Maybe a daughter has it on her shelves – or more likely in her boxes hidden in our attic cupboards. So I lift the unread copy from my shelf, and begin to read, in readiness for the first gathering of we who have decided to read children’s books for fun.

The heroine: Mary Lennox. A sickly, wan, sticky sort of girl, one who stamps her feet and shouts. I remember disliking her intensely. And feeling she did not deserve to be rescued.

Who does?

Then there was Dickon. Almost too perfect, knowing so much at the tender age of 12. Free to roam the moors. An animal charmer. Lover of fresh air and gardening.

And Colin. Scary Colin in that scary house. A secret, hidden down long corridors. He, it, frightened me. Deliciously. Tapestries and rich hangings, four poster beds and heaps of cushions. Chamber maids and house maids, cooks and gardeners. Way out of my experience.

I liked the robin best. He knew where the key was hidden. And Martha. Not that I could understand much of what she said, but I learnt, along with Mary.

And like Mary, too, I learnt about the Magic.

To the child who was me it seemed quite natural and almost romantic: positive thoughts pushing up along with the crocuses and daffodils, making everything all right again – Colin and his not-so-twisted back, Mr Craven and his despairing, traumatised sadness, Mary and her loneliness.

In the secrets of the garden, everything comes alive, nature and people alike, and spiritual and physical healing is experienced as the beloved roses begin to bloom again.

And they all lived happily ever after. Or so I assumed.

So now, I begin to read it all again. And this time there is sadness and sympathy for those poor lost ill-tempered children.

Admiration for Martha’s mother.

Amazement that the staff stick around.

And compassion and empathy, oh, so much empathy, for bereaved, crazed Mr Craven, travelling to escape, travelling to forget.

I race through the book, devouring pages, staying up late to read. After sixteen months of not remembering much of anything read, I find I am captivated and able to recall so much of what was read as a child. A child of ten, maybe eleven. Primary School, certainly.

I knew little of what I now see.

The emotional bruising and scarring of adults and children alike in this Craven/Lennox family. A fallen world.

Madness and loneliness and death and bereavement, all mixed up and changing those affected. Like me.

The ‘earth-mother-ish-ness’ and healing ways of Mrs Sowerby, Dickon and Martha’s mother. Is she a Mary figure?

Dickon as a young St Francis, with animals his constant companions.

And the garden itself, the archytypal paradise of the Garden of Eden, bringing healing to those who find it.

But now, as I read, I wonder about the author and my curiosity searches. And I learn of this young Englishwoman from nineteenth century industrial Manchester, emigrating to rural Tennessee, scribbling to supplement the family income in the aftermath of the American Civil War.

Of her unhappy marriage.

Her own illnesses.

The death of her son from consumption.

Her divorce.

Her success as a writer, giving her financial freedom to return to England and rent a large country house – with a walled garden.

And her spiritual journey, her adherence to Theosophy, Christian Science, Mind Healing.

I’m glad I now know more. But I’m glad too that I could read it both as child and adult with the glorious anticipation that all would come right, that there would be healing and joy again.

And so there can be.

We need the Holy Spirit, winged and red-fire, to point the way.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13, NKJV

RE:FRESH RE:NEW RE:CREATE RE:TREAT

THE SECRET GARDEN