People find solace in different places. Sitting down anywhere by water instantly lowers my blood pressure by 10 points.  Moving to the lake is probably the healthiest thing I’ve done in the past six years.  My friend Deb prefers the mountains. Large bodies of water make her nervous. I think it all started when she saw Jaws as a child.

Retreat and solace involve calm and quiet which seem to be rare commodities these days.  Activity gives energy to some people, but the constant bombardment of noise wears me down.   Maybe my life has been so loud for so many years, I need a break.

Whenever possible, I watch peaceful people to see if I can learn how they stay that way.  By their smiles, I’m sure many of them are on strong prescriptions.   Personality has to play into the mix in some way and surely those who live in the city are more jazzed up than rural dwellers.

I read something once that said peace is not the absence of confusion, it’s finding the calm in the middle of all the confusion.  That kind of bites since it puts the responsibility on me instead of my circumstances.  

Maybe I need to take more walks.  Every time it got too noisy for Jesus, he took a walk.  And come to think of it, many of those walks were by large bodies of water.