I snapped of a picture of these funny girls letting it happen.If I am being honest, sometimes in Youth Ministry I have nothing planned because I fell asleep on the job or because my creative juice was empty. But last night our lack of planned activity was on purpose. It was planned nothing. Sometimes I plan so intensely that I forget that spontaneous relational combustion is still alive and well. Basically kids will find fun, laugh a lot, enjoy each others company, create memories, get into trouble, and love every minute of it. And it is not simply youth ministry that this method of margin and open time should be adopted. Life needs times of nothing. Planned times of nothing.
A typical week for Emily and I includes a full days work, Life Group on Tuesday nights, youth group on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and typically an added ministry activity on either Monday or Friday nights. But this last week was different. Our Life Group was on hiatus for the summer, and we only had one ministry activity to occupy one night. You would think that I rejoiced in the freedom. Nearly the opposite. I sat at home, realizing I didn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have a tight schedule. I've lost sight of how to do it. How to relax, enjoy the moments, the relationships, the quiet. It looks like I might need to take my own advice and plan times of nothing. Because it is in those times I have found that rest comes. In those times you find joy in being with people you love. Who knows, maybe God is waiting for one of those times of quiet to be with you. To be with me.
