I am home again, but I want to schedule this before I leave in case I have not time to write as soon as I return. So, I am again sharing a quote from Henri Nouwen. He wanted us to know that we are not what we do. We are not what people say about us. Nouwn tells us that
"I am here to remind you in the name of God that you are the Beloved Daughters and Sons of God, and that God says to you, ' I have called you from all eternity and you are engraved from all eternity into the palms of my hands. You are mine. You belong to me, and I love you with an everlasting love.'"
I had a lovely three days at Villa Maria del Mar and I am so grateful that my spirituality group gave me this wonderful birthday present. The day I arrived and the next day the ocean was a gorgeous blue, the sun was out and it was perfect weather. Wednesday was cloudy, but early morning was spectacular with a bank of very white clouds right down on the ocean but at a distance so it seemed as if there was a wall of snow across the way. The sun was trying to shine through the spaces in a cloudy sky, but by noon it was all rather grey. There must have been a large school of fish near the shore as we saw thousands of black gulls flying low, following the fish and some were diving into the water to catch one. I had never seen anything like this before and I have been going to this holy place for about thirty years now. It used to be subsidized for Sisters so I payed only $25 a day - that allowed me to fly from Miami each year for a directed retreat or a guided retreat; sometimes I made a private retreat and twice I have had 30 days there! You can see that it is a sacred spot for me.
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