ideal mom retreat

The Ideal Mom Retreat

In my opinion, the ideal mom retreat is a place of refuge. It’s a place where you’re at peace, your focus is centered on enjoying that peace and you’re taking care of YOU mentally, physically and emotionally by doing what makes you feel good.

 

All year, I’ve been wanting 3 things: 1. to go on a personal 3 day getaway, 2. To go on a trip with hubby sans Aaron, 3. For hubby to have a personal getaway as well. Lord knows how we need it. But somehow the opportunity didn’t present itself. 

 

For me personally, 3 days in a place so serene and tranquil cut off from everything and everyone is the ideal retreat. In that place I believe I could get more perspective about things, in that place, I know I could regroup and jump back in with a fresh set of eyes and an uncluttered mind. 
In this month of December, I still long for it. BUT (I mean a big ol BUT), I’m not as disappointed as I could have been because the ideal retreat is accessible to me everyday and therin my comfort lays. 
Is it settling? No 
Does it mean I never want to travel? Definitely not

 

So keep reading…
motherhood-is-a-universal-experience

 

I find that because moms generally experience similar ups and downs in their journey, it’s easy to say that escaping from the things that feed off of your energy and eventually frustrate you (especially if you are not proactive about your safe space) is ideal. In that respect, shouldn’t most opportunities to get away be ideal? Can we agree that when a mom goes on a retreat, it is the place where we find refuge (a place of relief or escape)? 

 

ideal mom retreat

 

We live a life that requires us to channel everything we have learned over the years of our lives and cultivate it into a way of life that works for an entirely separate human being. Energy that must be sustained for long periods of time gives meaning to a child’s life who is trying to understand and maneuver a new world (unlike the one they came from within the womb). The learning never stops. While rewarding in its own right, this journey called motherhood gives some purpose to the ideal retreat.

 

Whether I’m on a beach alone on an exotic island or riding on a yacht with the breeze in my fro, or alone in a cabin surrounded by wilderness, the one thing that is prevalent and would otherwise make these experiences obsolete is the presence of God

 

psalm 91 encouragement

To me the physical place is the icing on the cake. There is nothing like a change in scenery. I get that, but disappointment in getting to the places I desired this year was curbed by the fact that the Lord is my refuge, my ideal mom retreat.

 

I can wake up before everyone else, head into our prayer room, close the door and either just sit there and do nothing, read, pray, dwell on the words on my favorite worship song and find peace and maybe some clarity and some focus–depending on the day.

 

ideal mom retreat
In that place, I DO get more perspective about things. Also, in that place, I CAN regroup and jump back in with a fresh set of eyes and an uncluttered mind. 

 

Refuge is a word that describes who God is. Refuge is so easy to understand as a physical place. The harder thing to do is to discover how refuge can be an actual person. The best way to think about a person being a representation of refuge is to think about how they make you feel:

 

psalm 16

Isaiah 26

He’s the ideal because he’s the one place you can reach without having to physically move your body. In the presence of God, there is clarity, peace, understanding; safety from insanity, doubt, and worry; and there is joy. In the place where you meditate and pray, there is where you will find these things. You are given hope and the words to speak that have power to transform any situation.

 

In his presence you are not frantic or nervous (well maybe at first you are right before you settle in). In his presence there’s is guidance on how to move forward and recognition on the real positing you have, as opposed to what fear would have you to believe.

 

How do we tap into our refuge?
ideal mom retreat
  1. Wake up early before the day starts and the “To Do’s” start running through your mind,
  2. Go to a quiet place,
  3. Be still, be silent, think of nothing,
  4. Add some white noise,
  5. Mediate on scripture(s) that reminds you that that God is always the same and that IT IS a fact that He and his love for you never changes and that he has your best interest at heart,

 

           EXAMPLES: John 15:4, Hebrews 13:8, Isaiah 48:17, Psalm 23, Jeremiah 29:11

 

  1. Recite it to yourself until you sense a change on your outlook and in your emotions,
  2. Play soft inspirational, worship or instrumental music,
  3. Be still, be silent and think of nothing.

 

The presence of God is attainable and when you attain, that escape can make you feel like you are on that island alone if you can’t seem to physically get there. That’s what makes the presence of God the Ideal Mom Retreat. 

 

I would love to hear what you think and  about your personal experiences and/or desires for the ideal mom retreat. Share them in the comments below.  

 

Happy Trails Mommies!
 

Wife to an amazing husband, mother to an exploring toddler and an MPA graduate aspiring to impact the world with encouragement in mothering and in social entrepreneurship.

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