Monastery

Adult gooses and babies!

One of the things I truly love about going to St. Scholastica is how different it looks every time I go. Something new and different is either blooming, walking around or fallen over since last time I walked the grounds. They lost a few of there monster trees from the storms of last week, so their giant roots were sticking out of the ground with grass still growing on the soil that was left attached. The workermen were grinding it and all the broken branches into mulch and I gotta tell you, they had a lot of piles around the place, so they must have lost more than I saw. The geese that were sitting on eggs last month were walking around with their hatchlings, that still had their downy feathers on. The Magnolia's are blooming and the frogs are big enough to be eaten. I also found out that large frogs will eat baby goose's. 
I spent my normal first afternoon at the Labyrinth. Funny thing about this circle of rocks, I thought it was silly the first time I came upon it. Here is some of the history I found out about them. Labyrinths, found in many cultural and spiritual traditions, are being rediscovered worldwide today. The labyrinth is an ancient spiritual tool used for prayer and contemplation. Its winding walk in toward the center and out again symbolizes a pilgrim's walk with God. It is a symbolic journey in the form of a walking mediation. So I meet with Sister Rachel before heading out, to get somethings to be praying about. She gave me a few things to work on and mentioned not to feel like I had to do them all. Which I did, cuz I didn't want to miss out on anything God might be trying to say to me. Won't even get into what that says about me. You can take an offering into the center and I usually pick up things along the way, a rock, some flowers, that kind of thing. This time I picked yellow flowers and some rosemary that is growing near by. I left it at the center and made my way out. 
I sat down on a bench to just 'Be' and see what God might want to show me and a Monarch butterfly landed on the purple Butterfly bush that was on the out side of the labyrinth. Then he flew off and made a few circles and landed on the flowers that I had left at the center! Blew me mind! He then came back and spent more time at the bush. I asked God what He was wanting me to know by this. He told me that I can't control the Spirit, if I would just wait and see the Spirit would do the work! Too cool! 
I also found out that I'm a front door kinda gal. You know when I'm around and I've heard tell that I get on some people nerves. (Bahahahahaha) Anyway, I'm going to start working on coming in the backdoor!
It was a great time hanging with the sisters and God continues to surprise me with His attention to detail and to me! I highly recommend this place for your own time of reflection or for one of there retreats that is planned out. You can check them out at www.stscho.org