My Journey to a Weekend Retreat

Have you ever been in a situation when you feel you want to get away from everything?  A place that is far away from the everyday routine, away from the noise, a place where you can calm down and....listen?


This has been my case for some time, but the opportunity never presented itself until this last weekend.


It was a long weekend here in Ontario last week, so it was perfect timing.


Why did I want to get away? You may ask. Simply because I wanted to get some direction. Without getting into the details, I will tell you that I was so angry last week. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it happens, I can get REALLY upset.‎


I was in a situation in which I felt I was unfairly treated and I was not even given a chance to explain myself (in my opinion). I couldn't understand; It was really unfair and there was nothing I could do.


As I was riding on the train going home with my daughter, with my mind wandering all over the place, this guy came near the door where I was standing; he was about to step out of the train.


As he past close to me, I could see that he had a tattoo on his arm.    The message on his tattoo said "When one door closes, God always opens another door". I was like "you got to be kidding me". The message came at the right time for me. I looked at the tattoo guy and I just wanted to tell him "dude, you just made my day", but the train door opened and the guy was out of my life lol.

What are the odds?

Over time I have become accustomed to those kinds of messages. A number of years ago (ten years to be exact), I was going through very tough times. I remember that day vividly. It was the first day of the month and I was wondering how I was going to pay my rent. Nothing seemed to come handy. I remember sitting on the bus, feeling sorry for myself. The bus came to a stop. I looked outside through the window and all of sudden I saw this message on a big billboard: "Talk to your landlord". I was like "this is nuts!!".

Right then, I picked up the phone and called my landlord. I asked her to give me some time before I could pay my rent. She said yes right away. I was like "Thank you Jesus!".

I believe we are being guided. If we pay enough attention, there are signs everywhere to direct us in the right direction. It could be a book we bump into, a friend calling, or even a "misfortune" that comes into our lives to close one door. As Bob Marley said «there is a natural mystic blowing through the air. If you listen carefully now, you will hear".

Moral of the story? Do you want to be guided by signs? Just take the train, and you will meet a guy with a tattoo.

Always a pleasure
Patrick
The Journeyman.