January – An invitation to Retreat

Dear Friends,

I don’t know about you but I have been inundated with emails over the past few days offering me quick fix solutions to help me enter 2026 as the “best version of me possible”. However looking out my window at the cold and frost which has settled in across much of the UK, I do not feel compelled to join a gym, take more supplements or buy more products. Frost lingers on the ground in the mornings and the light fades early in the afternoon still. It feels like the season around me instead is inviting me to put resolutions and intentions aside and instead slow my pace, to notice my breath, and to tend more gently to what is most needed within. 

Retreat has always been a gift for times like this. Not an escape from life or a means to self improvement, but instead a return to what grounds us. Retreat offers space to listen again, to rest in prayer, and to let God meet us where we truly are as a new year begins.

Cold weather has a way of drawing us inward. We light candles, wrap ourselves in warm layers, and seek shelter. In much the same way, retreat can be a place of shelter for the soul. A place where we do not have to rush, perform, or resolve everything at once. A place to warm ourselves in God’s presence and to trust that growth is happening, even when it is hidden.

As you look ahead to the months to come, I invite you to consider the gift of retreat as part of your spiritual rhythm. Whether for a few days or a little longer, retreat creates room for prayerful attention and for noticing the sacred woven in our days. 

Please know that you are held in prayer as this year unfolds. May these winter weeks bring you rest, clarity, and the quiet courage needed for the journey ahead.

With blessings and peace,

David