Finding refuge

Where is your refuge, that place of relief from life’s pressures, of rest and renewal and of peace?

For my wife and me, one refuge is in the mountains of western North Carolina at the John C. Campbell Folk School, which was started in the 19th century to train impoverished people to make and sell crafts to support themselves and their families.

The school still teaches and promotes arts and crafts—basket-making, blacksmithing, weaving and more.  I have studied writing and storytelling here; for my wife, painting and other visual arts. 

We are at Campbell for a week with our oldest grandchildren, who are learning blacksmithing, jewelry making and wood burning and carving.  

Here, I’m surrounded by the Appalachians. At dawn, the sun rises and spreads its light, like honey on toast, over the mountains and onto the meadows, gardens and campus.  

It is quiet in the early morning, apart from the the meadowlarks, cardinals, robins and assorted other birds, whose chirping, squeaking and trilling welcome the new day. My heart fills with the joy of living. In these stunning surroundings, I read, pray, write or just sit and let my usually active mind and body idle.  

Daily, from the onslaught of news, we know the world is a frightening place, and our lives are full, frenetic, and stressful, in part because of what we do to care for others in Christ’s name.

We long to feel human again, to restore our bodies and souls, and to find new strength to meet our challenges. 

 

I hope you will seek and find a refuge for your good and that of others to whom you are close, just as Jesus did when he went to the mountains to be alone with his Father in heaven. 

Perhaps your refuge will be in the mountains, or on a nearby lake or in your garden. That place will be holy to you, for there you will remember that you are more than what you do, or what you have or what you have accomplished. 

You are the child of God. And God delights in you. Just sit back in your refuge and know that you are his, and always will be, and as the medieval saint Julian of Norwich writes, All is well, and all will be well. In all manner of things, all will be well.