Staying on the Vine
This past year I've been focusing on staying connected - connected to the Lord, connected to others and connected to the purpose God has for me. Despite my normal tendency to get distracted and hop down bunny trails, I've worked really hard at staying focused on what I set out to do. One of the things on my list of specific ways to go about doing this was to take a personal retreat to study, pray and write on a monthly or at least every other month basis. That hasn't happened as much, but I was able to carve out some time for that this weekend. I had a speaking engagement at a church yesterday morning so went a day early and spent the night in a hotel for this very purpose. I find there is something about being out of my normal environment that helps me to zero in on hearing from the Lord. When I'm home I can find a million things to do that keeps me distracted. I arrived around 3:30 p.m., checked in, and then found a local hiking trail. Walking in nature is one way I