Introduction

Welcome to Harvest & Release, your BRAND NEW Personal Retreat Guide.

Autumn is my favorite season. Cozy sweaters paired with boots, days bookended by crisp mornings and chilly evenings, the landscape transformed from the bright greens of summer to the warm colors of burnt orange and fiery reds against an indigo sky. I love the smell of cinnamon in the air, and candles burning down to the nub in those early sunset evenings.  The whole aesthetic of Autumn fills my soul. These wonders are absolute delight, but I think one of the things I appreciate most about Autumn (beyond the wider landscape of the season) is that it is a distinct season of transition. Autumn feels to me, like the season most reminiscent of our spiritual journey.

The Gospel of Jesus is a call to salvation, and within that invitation is the inevitable call to live as one transformed (Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5: 17). The transformation that Christ invites us to experience is less about doing and more about being. As we live more and more in step with the Holy Spirit, we experience a deepening as we live from a place of being anchored in God’s love for us. It’s God’s love for us that changes us. It’s our response to God’s love that lets us experience transformation.

I love the idea of making space for an Autumn retreat because the shifting season is a perfect time for us to re-member who we are, and whose we are with deliberate intention. Most of us are masters at the doing parts of life, it’s the being part we struggle with. Retreat is an invitation to more being, less doing.

I pray that wherever you decide to take your retreat, you’ll experience the beauty of the autumnal landscape, but even more that you’ll experience the deep, transformative work of God in your heart as you practice harvest and release this season.