Retreat Rules

"every time God forgives us, God is saying that God's own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us."

Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

The tide and the moon and raccoons and the deer and the sub culture that is camping at Hunting Island State Park are not the normal rulers of my life in Madison. 

Being away from the normal allows all kinds of rules to be broken: sleeping later, eating differently, not shaving. You have your beach "rules" too. Don't you? And when one retreats from the normal it feels like a kind of forgiveness. 

It shows up in way one breathes, Long slow draughts. Not the shallow, petty breathing of deadlines and appointments. 

Thanks for the break, the forgiveness, the air. Not just here on this barrier island but for so much of what and how we share in each other's lives in Madison. See you Sunday.