Back Into the World

Retreats are a great way to carve out some time to focus on God and our relationship with him. But at the end of a retreat, we must leave the relative solitude portion of our journey and come back into the world and continue the journey God intends for us.

I decided to end my reflective retreat by immersing myself in a multitude of people. A huge opportunity to do this was just south of the monastery where they were dedicating a new pedestrian bridge that was built on an old train bridge. I went and decided to walk across the Hudson and back (about 4 miles).

It was an interesting pilgrimage in it's own way. All sorts of people from all walks of life were on the bridge. I had just decided to ask God "what should I do here?" when someone backed into me and asked me to take their family's picture. So I did and they took mine in turn. For the rest of the walk, every time I saw some doing the "here you take this picture and then I'll take one with you in it" dance, I approached the group and offered to snap a picture with everyone in it (on their own camera). Once they realized I wasn't after money, they really opened up and smiles ensued. I must have taken 30 pictures for others this afternoon.

That brightened the remainder of the trip, and now I'm home, unpacked and ready to face the day tomorrow. Thank you for coming along on the journey!