I am at Ghost Ranch in
Abiquiu, NM. Throughout its rich history this majestic landscape has been the home of dinosaurs, peoples of different ethnicities and cultures, artist Georgia O'Keefe, and now a retreat center for the Presbyterian Church (USA).
When I began planning this Border trip I knew that I would need some time to prepare myself for the journey. Not just making the hotel reservations, or completing the Borderlinks application, or packing my clothes, but some inner preparation. I would need to recoup physically – to rest - from this year of intense transition into a new job and the completion of a busy and stressful (yet meaningful) academic year. Just as importantly I would need a place of solace to renew and ready myself, emotionally and spiritually, for the encounters ahead.
That’s why I chose to be at Ghost Ranch. Here in this desert landscape I can be quiet. I can hike, sit, read, journal, walk the labyrinth, think, and pray. I can listen more intentionally without the distractions of everyday.
Tomorrow (as long as the rains don't make the road inaccessible) I will enter the monastic rhythm as I join the brothers at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert. I will “show up” to myself and to God.
For whom or what am I listening? I shared with several friends this “call” to return to visit the women of the Centro Santa Catalina in Juarez. Despite the violence and the swine flu I am compelled to go. I’ve wondered along the way, “Why am I not afraid?” Have I just been too busy to really stop and think about the violence? Or, am I just being naïve? Am I only remembering the joy and hope of the women, the laughter and dancing, the ritual blessing I received from them, and have dismissed the overall situation in Juarez? Or, am I just feeling so deeply called that no matter the consequences of my choices, this is the right thing to do?
I sit with these questions. I don’t want to over think or over analyze. I want to listen to God’s call – to know what is mine to do.
Leah, thanks so much for sending the link to your blog. I will be with you in prayer as you travel on this pilgrimage and look forward to learning about the community of women who captured your heart. Thanks also for the photos of Ghost Ranch. Perhaps I will make it there sometime. Love, Karen
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