A few week-ends ago, the 20s-30s group at St. Andrew's invited me to come along with them on their annual week-end retreat in the countryside of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. I was flattered and of course said 'yes'.
And what fun we had! Lots of singing, laughing, talking, preparing meals and cleaning up. One of the young men, Evan Lamos, led us in meditative reflexions on the Christian's walk with God. Saturday afternoon we took a long hike through a beautiful forest with steep, twisting valleys made intimate by woodlands, rushing streams and dramatic rock formations. I was proud of myself for being able to keep up with these young people, though ..... I was the last one in the line of hikers!
The thing that struck me the most, as I walked, talked, ate, slept, meditated and sang with all these young people, was their unity in their diversity. These are Christian young people who are united in their desire is to serve God and live a life that is pleasing to Him and, at the same time, diverse in that they come from many different countries: Belgium, Holland, the USA, Congo-Brassaville, Nigeria, Hungary, China, India, Ireland and Indonesia. It will be fascinating to see how God will use them in their own countries once their work or studies are over here in Brussels. It was a beautiful image of the Body of Christ/the Church as it should be.
After leaving on Sunday afternoon, we stopped at a covered butterfly garden before heading back to Belgium. And what a spectacular visit that was! The most gorgeous, exquisite, fragile butterflies I've ever seen! Even beats the Botanical Gardens in Montreal. I was amazed at their colours and variety as they flew freely around us, in the midst of gorgeous orchids and tropical plants. I didn't realize that butterflies could literally eat fresh fruit: there were hanging feeding trays of fresh fruit all over. I'm sending you via email my web album so that you can enjoy all this beauty too.
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