Last weekend Shirley and I spend a quiet afternoon up at Douai Abbey near Reading. We’re trying to build more of a rhythm of quiet days into our routine, and the evidence that we’re not quite there yet was displayed by the entry in her diary, conspicuously missing from mine! Thankfully I’d not managed to double book us, so we drove up to the Abbey on the beautifully crisp and sunny Saturday afternoon.
We spent our two and a half hours in the Abbey in silence – mostly sat on opposite sides of the Abbey next to the only two radiators in the building! I’d had a hectic week at 24-7, and I really needed to rest in the Lord. Thankfully He knows what we need even before we do, and I had a wonderful sense of His peace as I meditated on Him for our first our of prayer.
After that I moved on to intercession, and my prayers flowed easily as I brought friends, family and ministry to Him. As afternoon moved to evening, the Abbey became dark but neither Shirley or I cared one bit; we were in deep communion with Jesus.
This week has definitely benefited from my time with the Lord at the weekend. All I need to do now is to get this depth of peace and assurance into my pattern of everyday living…