When I pulled out of the driveway in the rain that morning, I first put on the headlights, then the wipers on what was the occasional or intermittent mode. I then reached over to turn on the radio, and felt really compelled to leave it off. "This is a silent retreat, Barbara Jean, which can start in this moment in the car as you pull away from home", a quiet voice seemed to be urging me on in silence. As I continued a lovely ride through deeply wooded side streets (as opposed to going on the motorway to the convent where I was headed), I was aware of two things:
a. The windshield wiper on the front window. In intermittent mode, it made me consider that it's a lot like God in my life. The ever present rain drops (not only in winter time in Belgium but in a more broad sense, the "rain drops" of life), make the windshield blurry, making it difficult to see what is coming. And then the windshield wiper wipes it clean, and everything becomes clear once again...for a short time. It's good to have to depend on the windshield wiper to clear away the raindrops. How much more good it is to depend on God for the faith that is needed when life's "rain drops" make the the windshield blurry, when sometimes it's not always clear what awaits me on this journey.
b. The windshield wiper on the back window, also in intermittent mode, was making the back window almost always clear. Even in the midst of the heavy rain, thru the back window it was quite easy to see where I was coming from. How easy it is so often to see clearly through what we've already experienced, which was and is in stark contrast to what was going on in my front windshield. Just like life, in so many ways. The old adage "hindsight is 20/20", meaning that we can always see so much more clearly through what we've already experienced because we have experienced it, came to mind. (I even began to wonder how does one say "hindsight is 20/20" in Dutch??!)
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| Room with a view |
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| What an invitation to come away and be silent! |
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| A randome gate that once must have lead to somewhere.... |
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| On a journey ~ |
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| The quiet cemetery reflecting the hope of the cross |
It was an amazing 30+ hours of silence ~ "pure torture" for one friend who wrote in response to my time away. But for me, a good time to reflect on faith, God's intermittent cleansing strokes, like the windshield wiper, in providing clarity when I need it, faith to trust Him in the journey, and always a clear picture of how God leads and directs with an amazing track record of being with me on the journey through the years. Be silent. It's a good place to be.
And for the Dutch speakers among us: "Achterafgezien is het duidelijk".....somehow the 20/20 gets lost in translation!
