I’m not exactly sure what went wrong, but I completely lost control of my calendar over the last three weeks and nearly drowned.

There were a couple of emergencies, some unexpecteds, and some scheduling difficulties that created a perfect storm.

For the past three years I have scheduled a day-long silent retreat for the first Monday of each month (moved to Tuesdays when a holiday falls on that Monday).

The silence is a good discipline for me since I am regularly in situations where I have to talk. The silence recenters me on God. It reminds me that the world goes on when I am not talking.

And this month, my silent retreat came at just the right time to help me reset. It served as a circuit breaker to shut down my activity before fire broke out.

While I have renewed my commitment to the healthy rhythms of my rule of life, I will probably experience another perfect storm. And when I do, I may need this circuit breaker again.

Lord, have mercy.