A Month at the Beach in Winter: Sunrise

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for the same everlasting Lord who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and everyday. Either he will shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to sustain it. Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.”
St. Francis de Sales












Rejoicing in God's provision!
Love,
Ronda

Location:Huntington Marsh Rd,Pawleys Island,United States

A Month at the Beach in Winter: Arriving

I used to be a planner. But when I quit working in corporate America, I threw out my watch.

And so this morning I took my sweet time packing and leaving on my trip. I stopped a few times to let Evie stretch her legs and to fill up the tank.








And then as it became half past five, I wondered how long the park office would be open so that I could check in. If I was late, I figured that I could claim my site and register with a park ranger in the morning.

I drove past Myrtle Beach and on to Huntington Beach as the sun began to set. At 5:45 pm I pulled into the park and said to the kind park volunteer who filled out the paperwork for me and registered me for my site: "What would have happened if I had arrived after 6:00 pm when your sign says the gate is closed?"

"You would have been locked out!" shouted the ranger from somewhere in the back..."



































Luckily, I arrived just in the nick of time!

Love, Ronda

Location:Huntington Marsh Rd,Pawleys Island,United States

A Month at the Beach in Winter: Preparing: Part VI

Someone once said to me, "I'm a little bit afraid to believe in God, because if I do, won't all hell break loose?"

Indeed, in this blog only a few days ago I too expressed concern that, based on scripture, the devil might come to meet me in the desert of my 30 day retreat by the sandy sea.

And then I thought, if the devil did come, what might it be like? What would he want to accomplish?

And it seemed to me that the thing he is after is not to scare me or hurt me or even end my life, but rather to befriend me, to speak softly to me, to cajole me into thinking and saying and doing something to separate me from the love of Christ.

He was even so brazen to quote scripture to Jesus in the desert!

When he whispers something in my ear, it may seem somewhat reasonable at first. But perhaps I have a misgiving at the same time. Listening further, perhaps I decide that the suggestion is a worthy cause or a noble idea...but is it coupled with an illicit way of reaching it? As my spiritual companion Ann once asked, "Did you bite into the apple and find the worm?!"

Human history has proven that the ends never justify the means. We must pursue good causes by right action. And then we can be sure that the "angel before us" is really one of God's good angels, and not some cheap imitation.

(Romans Chapter 8):
35
What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
36
As it is written:
“For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.”
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No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.
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For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers,
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nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen!
Ronda

A Month at the Beach in Winter: Preparing: Part V

Turning to Morning Prayer today (LOH Ephesians 2:13-16) and then reading a little further in my bible for context, the theme of a house is there once again.

(Ephesians 2:19-22:)
So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God's household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.

In His Abiding Love,
Ronda

Location:Apex, NC

A Month at the Beach in Winter: Preparing: Part IV

No sooner had I written my posting about Evie and I turning our little "house", our camper/poustinia/desert place/hermitage, into a "home" then I rushed out the door to Church.

This was the Gospel today:

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.

He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles, that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons: He appointed the Twelve: [ listing of their names follows.] (Mark 3:13-19)

In prayer before the Blessed Sacrament afterward, I opened the bible I carried in my purse. It was marked at John 14.

If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him. (John 14:23)

I saw the word "home!" Jesus will make his home with me if I love him and keep his commandments.

Then my eyes fell on John 15:1-4.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.

There it is, the word "home" again! Jesus asks me to make my home in him by listening to his words in Scripture and doing what he says. Then he continues:

As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away--he withers;

And then further down the page I saw:

It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love.

And then in prayer I responded, but Jesus, I am a 53 year old woman, living almost 2000 years after that day when you called those twelve men to follow you. How do I know that you are calling me too and that I am not just somehow inserting myself into the picture?

I read on (John 15:10 and following):

If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love....You are my friends if you do what I command you....You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. What I command you is to love one another.

And then I closed my bible right then and there because the Lord had spoken.

Amen. Praise God!

Love, Ronda

Location:Apex, NC

A Month at the Beach in Winter: Preparing: Part III

At Mass yesterday, I was stunned and encouraged to hear the first line of the Gospel reading:

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. (Mark 3:7)

Later, Evie and I set out to make our future little house by the sea into a home...














Four days and counting until our departure!

Love, Ronda

Location:Apex, NC

A Month at the Beach in Winter: Preparing: Part II

This morning my husband asked me if I was still feeling excited about going on a (silent!) retreat for a month.  "Yes," I said, "I am!" 

I have been in an animated state of late, trying to get everything crossed off of my "to do" list before leaving town.  It never seems to be a convenient time to get away for a while.  Let's see, since deciding to do this just five days ago, my list has looked like this:

1. Start walking everyday with a Fitbit to measure mileage!

2. Get out of weekly commitments.

3. Finish yard work. 

Our annual termite inspection in December revealed that squirrels had gotten into our attic.  We had to have the insulation removed, the entry holes found and repaired, fresh insulation blown back in, trees taken down, and stumps ground in the yard. 

4. Buy a few provisions: an electric space heater with a thermostat to help when temperatures dip below 30 degrees and the camper's heat pump can't keep up; rapidly dissolving toilet tissue and chemicals for my portapotty so that I won't have to walk out to the bathhouse at night; a lamp so that I can read more comfortably after dark. 

5. Take down the Christmas tree and the outside decorations. (We leave them up until Epiphany, the Feast of the Wise Men, which was January 8th this year.)

6. Get living room lamp repaired. (It fell and broke when we took down our Christmas tree.) 

7. Splurge on a 4 volume set of the Liturgy of the Hours so that I can join the universal Church in prayer as I learn to flip between sections for Morning Prayer, Office of Readings, and Evening Prayer.  

8.  Renew my camper's registration and put the new sticker on the license tag. 

It was already two months past due, and so I drove to the Tag office today, endured a humiliating lecture from the clerk, paid a fine, and then left, pleased to have my camper ready to hit the road. 

9. Prepare for and attend my bible study class tonight.   

When this item came around, I must admit I was pretty tired.  Exhausted in fact.  And so 30 minutes before class, I started to write a note to the facilitator to tell her I would be absent.   But then I thought I should try to attend anyway because others have made the effort to come when they've been tired and said how happy they felt afterward. 

And so with a steaming hot cup of tea in my hand made by my daughter, I headed out the door to discuss this week's reading: 

 Luke 3:1-4:13 The Preaching of John the Baptist in the Desert, the Baptism of Jesus and the Temptation of Jesus in the Desert.  

(I kid you not!!!)

After discussing these things with my group, I could feel my cheeks become rosy and I began to feel nervous. 

"What will happen to me when I go into the desert?  Will I meet the Devil there as Jesus did?"  

And so I began sharing with the group the plans I had made to be away on a 30 day retreat, not in the desert exactly, but on a sandy beach.  And that I was starting to worry...

"Is this your last day here with us for a while??"

"We can pray for you while you are away!"

"Will you be writing in your blog? It makes me feel like I am right there with you."

"Maybe nothing big will happen to you this time, but it will be God's work none-the-less!"

"Today is the Memorial of St. Anthony of the Desert!"

And so with the humble admission of my sudden hesitation and even a little fear, the love of God suddenly came rushing in to meet me through these caring friends.  

And then I suddenly became filled with joy!