Pearl Creations: Discovering our unfolding story

Program Details

Have you ever explored how pearls are created? A grain of sand gets stuck inside an oyster's body, and to ease the discomfort, the oyster coats the speck in calcium carbonate to form a pearl.

In a time when women are experiencing a roller coaster of emotions with competing responsibilities, expectations, and discrimination, many female spiritual leaders are inviting us to see how priceless it is to give ourselves permission to take the journey within and connect with our own soul.

With "stuff" that can get stuck, our spiritual journeys lead us through different phases of discernment for these discoveries and to ease the discomfort. As we go deep, we learn how to see the events of our lives as those helping to create the pearl within.

We invite you to discover your pearl and celebrate the "rites of passage" that bring forth the beautiful creation that is you.

We invite you to extend your time at the Ridge with an overnight retreat, and join Eliza Goodell’s Day Apart Retreat on Wednesday, March 25 as she leads the retreat, “Faith and Art: Let’s Make Ukranian Easter Eggs!” Come for both Wednesday and Thursday Day Apart retreats, enjoy Wednesday dinner, your overnight stay in a private room and breakfast on Thursday. Cost: $215 per person.

About the Leaders

Lee Ireland

Rev. Lee A. Ireland is now retired after serving many churches as a long-time Interim Pastor. She lives in Niantic, CT and is focusing on spiritual formation programs, retreats and offering Individual Spiritual Direction sessions. She received her M.Div. from Andover Newton Theological School, and was trained as a Spiritual Director at Mercy Center, Madison, CT from 1997-99. She has served in 14 different congregational settings as well as working in a women's prison and as a per diem hospital chaplain. Since 1990, she has had the joy of leading retreats. She is well aware of how life throws us curve balls and we can become distracted from our soul's journey by many events that may lead us to dead-ends. As we choose to study the wisdom of others, journal, listen to our dreams or participate in retreats and spiritual formation programs, we learn how to listen within so we can stay on our faith journeys. We discern the guidance we need so we can live into our personal Calls, and live into unexpected moments which nurture the peace within and make our hearts and souls sing. We can then make new life choices that enable us to live in the Now as we love and serve from our centeredness, a sense of gratitude due our deepening relationship with God.