Retreat

I recently spent two days on a solitary retreat at the ARC Retreat Center near Stanchfield, Minnesota. It was such a gift to be able to get away from my everyday routine for two days of reading, prayer, reflection, and rest.

I stayed in the hermitage, which is a single-room dwelling in the middle of the woods.








It had electricity, including lights, microwave, and fridge. It was very comfortably furnished, had an awesome screen porch, and was generally very cozy.








The lack of running water (and accompanying outhouse) wasn’t ideal, but it was manageable for a couple days, even for me, and I’m particularly wimpy about “roughing it.”





The only real bummer was the rabid killer mosquitoes. I stayed inside as much as possible and still ended up with 51 bites! Maybe in early spring or late fall they wouldn’t be as bad, so it would be easier to go for walks and be outside. Meanwhile, I made good use of that screen porch!