Beloved

"All I want to say to you is 'You are the Beloved,' and all I hope is that you can hear these words as spoken to you with all the tenderness and force that love can hold. My only desire is to make these words reverberate in every corner of your being, 'You are the Beloved." -- Henri Nouwen

This weekend David and I went on a retreat from 38 others from Old St. Pats. We stayed at a Catholic seminary and were drenched in God's love all weekend. It was an amazing experience. I don't think I can even articulate what the weekend was like, except to say that it was filled with stories of God working in the lives of his Beloved, and it gave me hope. Hope that even when our lives are broken, we are Beloved. Even in the midst of tragedy or just the mundane tedium of life, we can live abundantly.

I went to the retreat feeling defeated, tired, sad, and depressed. I left feeling hopeful and refreshed.

There were lots of cool statues.


And there were crosses everywhere.


Even on the doorknobs. I wanted to steal one of these doorknobs but didn't think it would be appropriate seeing that we were on a spiritual retreat.


Here's David being contemplative.


At the end of the weekend we were given these crosses to wear.


To remind us that we are loved very much by Him.