November 14

Today's Reading:  Lamentations 3; Hebrews 10:19-39

Today's Thoughts:   Small Adjustments can lead to Huge Breakthroughs

Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise: why should you destroy yourself?"        Ecclesiastes 7:16

I tend to be the main point person when dealing with the specific retreats that we attend. So it's up to me to do mostly everything from communicating with the church to finding out the specifics of the retreat. Well, last weekend's retreat was no different. I knew that we were going to Twin Peaks and had all the information stapled together. The packing list included: sleeping bag, flashlight, pillow, towels, toiletries. When Bobbye asked me what she should bring, I pulled out the list and started reading it to her. She listened intently and asked, "Is this a camp ground? Are we going camping this weekend?" I said, "No, it's a retreat center," without giving it another thought.

Our Friday morning of the retreat started at 6:15am as we attended the Professional Women's Fellowship breakfast and then headed up to Twin Peaks. Our dear friends, Karen and Dawn, met us right at the front and asked to help us carry our things in to the room. As I popped open my trunk, the pillows, towels, extra blankets and sleeping bags were right on top. Karen looked at me and said, "You do not need any of that." I was so surprised to find that the Retreat Center had real beds and linens. Confused, I rechecked the packing list just to find out that I had stapled my 7th grade daughter's retreat list to the retreat schedule. I had been following the wrong list.

How can you be so prepared and organized while being so radically off base? It took a lot of extra time, thought and effort to pack things that I didn't need. I had never questioned the list, trusting in my own skill set. It reminded me a Bible verse written in Ecclesiastes 7:16 "Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise: why should you destroy yourself?" 

This was a small mistake in the big picture of things but it made me examine other things in my life. How many times am I going out of my way to make things harder on myself, absolutely convinced that I am right? I might be heading the right way and even able to get to the right place but am I prepared with the right things when I arrive? Am I making the trip of life more difficult in the process? Am I willing to listen to others who are personally involved? Am I spending more time doing or am I really thinking things through? These were great questions for me to ponder while away in the mountains. Sometimes it is not about making big changes but making small adjustments that can lead to huge breakthroughs.

Everything considered, the retreat was amazing! Despite packing the wrong kind of things, we really had the right kind of time.

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