It seemed a bit odd to take a break and go to this retreat. But the prayer team that I have recently joined at our local hospital was putting it on, and I was drawn to it.

I have recently committed myself to learning one new thing about God every day, and this retreat was a good beginning point.

Central to the retreat was a study of the Exodus in the Old Testament. As we got to know one another, and settled in comfortable chairs, the retreat started. A nun with dark eyes and a wide smile, started talking about the Exodus story, slowly weaving into it current stories of her life and encouraging others to share stories from their lives and how it paralleled the Exodus story.

It was quite lovely --- sun streaming in and all.

To make the connection with Moses' life and ours, was to see that we are all called. We are called, invited, protected and nurtured by an infinite God , whom we know relatively little about and will spend most of our lives working to understand. This is big stuff.

In trust we move forward

Sometimes reluctantly, like Moses, who apparently couldn't speak worth a darn. Or sometimes, with an ego that says, "It's about time I was called! I have QUALIFICATIONS!!" But it is the meekness that God seems to favor. The meek are those who KNOW they have to lean on God in order to get the job done.

To talk to God, Moses took off his shoes

Taking off one's shoes, you feel the ground. It is a recognition of entering a sacred space. Isn't it encouraging to think that you can put yourself in the presence of God, just by recognizing that now - this time, right here, is a sacred space. When we are together, when I am with a patient, we are in a sacred space. "If I am present with the song" my friends can feel this.

God calls you

Or as I saw it, God calls me. He calls me by my name. He knows me. God confirms me. The idea that we each have a divine imprint is an idea that many spiritual thinkers have embraced. Even now, the idea of each person being wired for spirituality, or having a divine imprint is being embraced in many forms of health care, as well as in organized religion and with independent spiritual seekers.

But regardless of the growing popular thought, the idea that God knows me hits home. I know that this is true. God treats each one of His ideas, His children as a world within itself. I also know, inexplicably so, that the key to understanding this is the key to understanding peace among individuals, and among nations.

Moses was called from something to something

So we are called from something to something. I was recently laid off from a job from which I still feel a sense of awe. I also felt that when the job was done, it was done. If I was called from that one wonderful thing, I can see that I am now being called toward something. I gained a huge chunk of peace just knowing -- and affirming -- that God never stops calling us from one wonderful thing to another.

God loves us. Really, really loves us. The Sister's face was never more animated as when she explained how much God loves us. Meister Echkart, 12th Century Christian mystic, was quoted as saying that God is 1000 times more eager to give what we are much less eager to receive.

And on this note, we closed, each one pausing, then stating just how much God loves each one of us. It was affirming, it was nourishing. Then we all put our proverbial shoes back on and went out.