Retreat guest Joshua Speer recently posted an article about his retreat here at Cloud-Bearing Mountain Christian Retreat Center. The article begins with a long quote from a troubled journal entry. He ends the quote with an important insight followed by a question,
A properly ordered life will not magically appear out of thin air.
Given the circumstances, how do I tune out the unrelenting noise and chaos of post-modernity and focus on God?
The article, which he calls “Be Still and Know God,” goes on to say,
That journal entry was written on Saturday, September 27th, 2025. Five days before I went up to Cloud-Bearing Mountain Christian Retreat & Training Center in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. After spending four nights out there, I walked away with one very important tool to help me navigate through the noise; contemplative prayer.
To sit still in the silence, alone, is essential for the human soul. It is the simplest, yet most difficult, thing to put into practice. Especially when you are attempting to navigate through the noise for the purpose of discovering God’s presence, distractions bombard you from every direction. It is almost as if it is spiritual in nature.
Throughout the retreat, we sat in the chapel for an hour — once at dawn, once at dusk — with candles lit, facing icons of Christ and the Saints, and meditating. For someone who has long yearned for silence and stillness, once I found myself in an environment for precisely that purpose, I could not sit still. My thoughts drifted. Did I remember to pay that bill? What would Texas be like after all these years of being away? What happens —not if, but — when I cross paths with estranged family members? On and on, those thoughts and more plagued my mind, and manifested with nervous fidgeting.
“Sit still and focus on your prayers,” Father said to me one morning.
On one hand, silent prayer is that simple. Contemplative prayer is not about external factors or how you feel, but what’s going on with you spiritually. Your thoughts, emotions, fears, sins, insecurities, and weaknesses come to the surface. None of those things are pleasant to think about. That is why it is so difficult to maintain.
You can read the remainder of the article here.
Joshua, we enjoyed having you as our guest. Thank you again for the work you did on the farm while here. We hope to see you again.
May God bless you!