“Consider the lilies of the field …”

Each Sister of Notre Dame has the opportunity to make a week’s retreat on an annual basis.  These days become a wonderful time to rekindle the flame of our love for God and to allow God to delight in us.  This evening before retreat began I took my camera and went for a walk at Lial.  As I sat on the ground at the edge of the lake, camera poised and ready for “something” to “happen”, this Scripture came to my mind: “Consider the lilies of the field, they neither toil nor spin….”  No lilies before my eyes, but rather the graceful dancing of dozens of dragonflies.  “Consider the dragonflies on the pond, they neither toil nor spin….”  Yet our good and provident God takes care — of the lilies … the dragonflies … the clover in the grass … the sun shining on the water.  Retreat is kind of like that too:  our good God delights in providing for all our needs and blessing us in abundance as we ask for the graces we most want and need.  Most folks don’t have the luxury of a week set apart for prayer and solitude; some people choose to make St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises throughout the year rather than in the thirty day fashion, truly making “a retreat in daily life” across many months.  Today we might be invited to slow down a bit to find God in our daily life … in the lilies and dragonflies and clover and sunshine.  Today we might be invited to ask for a special grace.  Our good and provident God will surprise us with an abundance we can’t even begin to imagine.