What Are You Waiting For?
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Retreats are an amazing experience that have the potential to change your life. They also have the potential to, well, ya know, not.
I recently helped out on DYR – the Diocesan Youth Retreat which is put on by the Diocese of San Jose. After the retreat this year (as so happens every year), many of the teens say that they can’t wait until next year’s retreat. Although it’s wonderful to hear so many teens speak so highly of the retreat, is it really having a positive impact on them if all they are focusing on is next year’s retreat?
The sole purpose of a retreat is not to give them an amazing experience that encourages them to come again (it definitely should be a goal of the retreat, but not the main purpose). The purpose is to inspire the teens to grow intentionally in their relationship with God. The teens should leave the retreat ready to make the changes in their life that God is calling them to make.
Think about a vacation that you had to put in effort to save enough money to go on. After the trip, you just want to go back and can’t wait for another opportunity like it…except you have to wait because now you can’t afford to go on one yet. So you wait til the following year to go..except you can’t just sit around idly. You have to make money…except you can’t just make money – you have to save some of it too. And because you’ve worked so hard and because after one vacation you know what you like and don’t like to do, this next vacation will be even better.
After an amazing retreat, you can’t wait to go again…except a retreat is about growing. Growing in our relationship with God. Growing to become a better person. Growing to become a better Christian. So in the time between retreats, we can’t just sit around idly waiting, because then what you learned on the retreat or what God spoke to you becomes wasted. You have to put your newly inspired faith into action. And you shouldn’t want to go on the next retreat as the same person who went on the last retreat. You should want an even better experience. If you come as the same person and haven’t grown, more than likely God’s gonna be like, “Dude, I told you last year what to do and you haven’t done it yet. You think my answer’s gonna change? I don’t change. You do.”
Am I saying you shouldn’t be excited about your next retreat? Heck no, techno. I’m saying prepare yourself for it and look forward to an even better retreat by putting all that you got out of your last retreat to use. And you know all those things that inspired you at retreat? Guess what, you don’t have to wait for a retreat to do them.
Make time to
- Go to Mass
- Pray
- Spend time with Jesus
- Go on a bus ride
- Learn more about Catholic Social Teachings
- Serve
- Listen to Catholic speakers
- Go to Reconciliation
- Correlate movies to God
- Start a small group and talk about faith
