• Retreat for Single People

Leaves at a bag a foot

Our Relationship Views:

The best relationships start with a knowledge of ourselves, then adds knowledge about the other. It gives respect to differences and learns to trust the heart of another. Rather than focusing solely on “bad behaviors” (which we are already overly aware of), it focuses on strengths and the purpose of the relationship. In an atmosphere of respect and safety, old ineffective beliefs and habits can be shed in the exciting possibility of where love will lead.

Our Retreats focus on the positive, enabling you to see exciting new possibilities for your relationship. We discourage dwelling on the negatives, although they may sometimes come up voluntarily as a pathway of understanding, moving us toward solutions.

We start with the premise that each individual is a beautiful creation of God, tainted by the “stuff of life”, but redeemable. We seek to restore and empower the real identity through an understanding of Personality, exposing its inner motivations, abilities, passions and styles. The picture is one of beauty, clarifying a basis for respect and trust. Join us! We think you’ll be glad you did!

This year they bloomed in abundance the day before Easter. The bright sun had given them the faith to open their blooms vulnerably and beautifully. I was thrilled as once again new life, beautiful life graced my gardens.

Over the night a couple of days later, we had a rain storm… not the violent kind, but with just enough wind and rain to cause some damage to tender plants. As I hustled about to get to an early-morning meeting, I took a moment to view my daffodils.

Most of them were still standing, somewhat wind-blown, but a few delicate blooms had bent over with their faces splashed in mud as they lay face-down in the dirt. A few more had stems that were scored, causing them to sit at half-mast against their stems. And my beautiful double blooms were just too heavy, and now rested their heads on the ground.

I was sad. Not wanting to lose any of the beauty of each daffodil, I quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the damaged ones. At first I was tempted to brush or wash off the dirt, but soon realized it would destroy the tender flowers. After a mild shake which removed most of it, I saw a new beauty in them as I arranged them in a vase. Next I cut the ones with injured stems, allowing them to cascade over the edges in a more downward motion. And lastly, I snipped those double blooms near the throat, and placed them in bud vases where they were show-cased even more beautifully than in the garden.

And as I worked, a number of analogies came to my mind.

How like our lives! We start out so beautiful and full of faith and hope, but the storms of life begin to come and beat upon us.

Unfortunately, many of us are left scarred, with the mud of life marring our beauty and capacity, and we are left face-down in the mud with little power to help ourselves. But in spite of that, we struggle on, hoping that somehow we’ll be able to right ourselves and continue on with life.

Some of us are bruised to the point of breaking. We are vulnerably at the mercy of those around us, never again capable of standing tall completely on our own, and we hope that someone will recognize our value, and give us a hand back up.

And then there are those whose very beauty makes them fragile and vulnerable. These are ones who have so much inner potential, but are not equipped in nature to handle the harshness and competitiveness of life.

And just as I was able to either restore or re-frame the beauty of my daffodils, we desire that our home would be a place of encouragement and growth through our retreats.