From Live and Lead, my monthly newsletter to my readers
Dear friends,
I recently gave a week-long retreat for the Southern region of the Leadership Conference of Women’s Religious. It was a humbling experience to stand in a room filled with twenty-four Religious Sisters and facilitate a retreat for them. Our theme was “Hope Lives in Our Real Life”.
In one of the early movements of the retreat, I invited them to remember the holiness of their creation. The focus image I brought for our prayer table was an acorn. I reminded them of the proverb, “Within a tiny acorn awaits a great oak.” In Psalm 139, we hear the words, “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.” My invitation for their prayer time was to imagine the “Pre-Psalm 139 Prayer” that God dreamed for their creation. What was planted in the “acorn” of God’s creation of them? What mighty oak did God dream would come forth?
The room I gazed out upon was filled with “mighty oaks”. Women who faithfully followed God in their vocation as a Religious Sister. Within this room stood the “mighty oaks” of sisters who were principals of schools, teachers, a medical doctor, nurses, leaders of massive organizations, superiors of their orders, chaplains, spiritual directors, pastoral ministers. In the years of their vocation, the “mighty oaks” in that room provided shade for thousands upon thousands of people, offering respite to the poor, those on the margins, the immigrant, children, adults, the sick, the dying, and so many more. I thanked these women for not being afraid to let God call forth from their “acorns” the “mighty oaks” they are now.
Our retreat happened on the grounds of St. Joseph Abbey in Covington, Louisiana. The acres of this Abbey are thick with massive trees, including many oak trees. At one point, one of the retreatants, Sr. Charlotte, invited me to walk with her to the cemetery. She walked me to a giant oak tree in the middle of the cemetery. Its trunk was as big as my minivan. Its canopy of branches spread dozens of feet. Sr. Charlotte let me know that this oak was 280 years old. Can you imagine the acorn that held this mighty oak?
It leaves me in awe at God’s creation. Seeing that 280-year-old oak and the room filled with “mighty oaks” of these sisters makes me wonder what is the “mighty oak” that God is calling forth in me? I continue to ponder this idea as I look with love at my husband and children. I wonder what “mighty oak” God is calling out of my team members, my directees, my friends, my family, and others I encounter. As I write this, I wonder about each of you who will read this. What “mighty oak” is God growing out of your “acorn”? What did God dream for you when you were created?
Imagine if our leadership embraced the posture that God takes with us. Imagine if we saw those we love and serve through the lens of God calling forth a “mighty oak”. I am convinced it would change the way we encounter others. It would invite us into the posture of nurturing the growth of what God dreamed that person to become.
I encourage you to pray with this image of the acorn holding the mighty oak. Or you might find this handout with the “Pre Psalm 139 Prayer” exercise helpful for your prayer. As you ponder what “mighty oak” God created you to be, I invite you to also wonder in awe at what God dreamed for the person you encounter.
My prayer for us is that we courageously live as the “mighty oaks” God created us to be, like the Religious Sisters I met facilitating their retreat. I pray that we are bold in helping those we lead, we love, and we encounter, believe in the “mighty oak” living within them also. I thank the many Religious Sisters who have been part of helping me see the “mighty oak” God is birthing out of me.
Know of my prayers for you!
Peace,
Becky
Becky Eldredge
October 9, 2025