Lighthouse retreat

My LORD God,

In a world of chaos and sinfulness

help me to slow down:

to appreciate all the beauty that surrounds me

to glorify you in all that I do

to turn away from sinfulness

and to be a perfect expression of your love.

Amen.

I wrote this prayer last week, while on a beautiful retreat with Lighthouse (youth group). We were staying at Waihi Beach (above), a beautiful expression of creation in itself, calm, serene and glorious. It was truly beautiful. I was surrounded by beautiful holy people and the beauty of creation. In a country like New Zealand, there is an immense and amazing natural beauty which truly reconciles you to the fact that you are surrounded by God. I felt so blessed to witness God's expression and creativity in nature, and to get in touch with a calmer, more contemplative side of myself.

Top three things I loved about the retreat (not sure if this is in order):

1. The Location. Waihi Beach really is spectacular. We went on a hike down to a picturesque little beach and sat revelling in the beauty of nature.

2. The People. I really truly love Lighthouse. They're the first group of people who both calm me and energise me at the same time. The leaders are amazing, fun, holy people whom I adore. And I can't get over how fantastic the people are. Everyone just seems so in touch with God and with themselves. I know jealousy's a sin, but is it still a sin if you're jealous of how well people love God?

3. The Disconnection. At the beginning of the retreat, we were stripped of our cellphones, ipods.... and WATCHES. Although some of us needed shock treatment at first for the loss of the wrist-adorning companions, the experience of not knowing the time was, shockingly, liberating. I felt so much calmer and less anxious and hyper-organised to not know the time. To take life as it came, and not worry about when anything had to be done was freeing. Redeeming even. I loved it.

Thing I didn't love about the retreat (in this order):

The wake-up. Being the liberated, watch-less beings that we were, none of us had a clue of the time. And so we stayed up until what I assume was a very late (early?) hour of the night. After rousing games of sorry, bible roulette and snap, our cabin finally turned the light off at who-knows-what hour. Falling into a blissful (but painfully short) sleep, I had a nightmare. I dreamed that I was asleep, and that some drunken, loud man was outside my window banging a beer bottle against it. I woke up from this nightmare, only to find, to my dismay, that outside our door were Rich and Glen, enacting some form of awful, screeching wake-up call including a bell, banging, a pot and pan and yodelling. And it wasn't even light out. Rich, Glen, if you are reading this, know that I am still disgruntled.

But other than that, this retreat was a beautiful escape from reality, and a wonderful reflection on God, his Love, and his will. 

Unfortunately, coming back to the real world of stress and boredom has been a let-down, but I'm going to strive to make more acute my awareness of God's creative expression in my life, and find time to be with Him in the beauty of His creation.