Laity Lodge-Kindred Spirits

This is the third post of a four part series on my experience at the writer's retreat at Laity Lodge. Click on these links to read the other posts:


Part 1
Part 2
Part 4

In The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis writes about deep friendships that are between kindred spirits. These are people who have more in common than merely convenience or living in close proximity to one another. These are people who see and care about the same truths. At the Laity Lodge Writer's Retreat, the rooms were full of kindred spirits. These were people who are writers, with a deep belief in their God. Many are book authors. Most are bloggers, and some attended in anticipation of beginning to write.

I walked up to a group of writers at the meet-and-greet when immediately I heard a lady say, “Oh, you’re the one who won the contest!” She had read my nametag. I sheepishly smiled as some of the others turned to stare. I was meeting all of them for the first time. Many of them already knew one another. They had met at the retreat last year. Many others had been corresponding on the internet and knew each other but were meeting in person for the first time.

I went to get refreshments and people were introducing themselves. Arriving with my own preconceived notions about  people from seeing their pictures on The High Calling website, meeting them in person was quite a surprise. I expected L.L. Barkat to be ten feet tall. She is an accomplished writer, teacher, editor, publisher, wife and mother. So, when a very petite feminine lady walked up to me and introduced herself, I politely said hello. Then, my brain processed who she said that she was and I couldn’t speak for shock. She was ten feet tall in accomplishments and character only.

We had dinner in a dining room with long wooden tables, more like the kind that you would have in a family dining room rather than at a retreat center. I was amazed that the conversation never seemed to wane. There was none of the nervous first conversations that are usually encountered at retreats among people who were meeting for the first time. Not even among the newbies like me. I guess that is because most everyone there was a writer and we writers love to express. Express we did, all weekend.

When we weren't expressing, we were chillaxing; or clowning; or meditating. 

Some were autographing books.

We came in all ages, shapes and sizes to meet one another, learn a little about our craft, and fellowship. We, the kindred spirits, so thankful to be with each other, drinking in the beauty of understanding, left with the gift of richer, deeper kinships and wonderful memories for a lifetime.

Amen.
To read the next article in this series about Laity Lodge, go here.


Joining with Laura Boggess at The Wellspring and L.L. Barkat at Seedlings in Stone.



















copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins