Recently, I feel a deep pull towards the idea of retreat. Perhaps it is a seasonal thing. In the summer, I wanted to explore and broaden my horizons. Now, in this darker, busier, colder time of year, I want to hunker down, to live ‘smaller’. I want to rest. I crave quiet and I long for simple.

More than that, much of what I see around me makes me recoil. There are loud voices saying hateful and foolish things. There are big, unwieldy systems that do more harm than good. There is a relentless lack of understanding and acceptance; a seductive but damaging swathe of consumerism; a constant pressure to be ‘more’. All of this depresses and overwhelms me, so I want to withdraw for a while. I want to literally retreat from the onslaught of modern life.

What I long to focus on is not small, though. It is built of small things, but it is not small.

It is love that gives our crazy world back its hope; love that can draw us back to our senses; love that brings meaning to our short lives. It is often in the quiet that we hear love’s voice. Often, in the small moments and overlooked corners of our lives, love makes its presence felt.

Like the story of when Elijah went to the mountain to hear God. He saw wind, earthquake and fire, but he heard God, not in these powerful, huge phenomena, but in a ‘gentle whisper’.

In another story, God reminded everyone (on more than one occasion), that he saw and heard the misused slave girl, Hagar, and her young baby, as much as he did the patriarch, Abraham. It was just Hagar and her boy in the desert, but God saw them there, loved them and looked after them.

When I retreat a little from all the hustle, and take a moment to play with a kitten, or hug the dog, or let my daughter style my hair, or chat with my son about his farming game, life makes a bit more sense to me.

This weekend, we stepped back from the excitement and bustle. We stayed home and decorated the Christmas tree, quietly and simply, and we went for a little walk, and ate some good food, and we came home again. After a week in which each of us faced our own difficulties, the simplicity of being together with those who love us unconditionally was much needed.

Henri Nouwen writes about this in his book, The Life of the Beloved. In his view, we are created to imitate Jesus: to know that we are beloved by God and to live with love for others.

Sometimes, to show love is the only sensible thing we can do. We can’t fix all the problems or heal all the hurts of the world, but we can live a small moment of love, and another, and another, and be a little bit of healing to a little bit of the world.