Participate. DON’T anticipate!

This phrase I used often when I was a youth minister and took teens on retreat. More often than not, they were “required” to attend and didn’t really want to be there. Sometimes there were teens who were content with whatever was going to come their way because they were up for the adventure but mostly I’d have 25-30 high school students antsy about what was about to happen. They were unfamiliar with taking time away from the norm and spending time with God. Many didn’t know what that meant and in the Catholic Church, teens would think we were going to spend all of our time within the worship space kneeling in silence.

Honestly, it’s not just teenagers who are afraid of the unknown. Many adults don’t volunteer or sign up for activities because they are afraid of what they don’t know.

I’ve learned that the only way to let go of the fear is to trust and as a human race, trust is something that is not easily given. Most people, when coming into an unknown experience will come in with their guard up and hesitant to participate. However, when it comes to God, He isn’t going to force is way in, He is going to wait for you to open up and invite Him in. This requires us to rest in the unknown.

In order to completely give ourselves into a retreat or another new experience, there is a level of trust you must hand over to the person in charge. On a retreat, the idea is to open up and allow yourself to let go and experience God. When you are having a medical procedure that you are experiencing for the first time, like a mammogram; you have to trust that the medical professional knows how to do what is needed to get the best pictures necessary.

It’s difficult to let go, to give up control and to be vulnerable.

Over the years I’ve traveled with family for vacations but I’ve also traveled with other adults to conferences and attended retreats. On these trips with other adults, the same problems arose each time, there were people who were not open to doing things differently than they are used to doing at home. There were people who had to eat on certain schedules or had to be the first person in the shower because they didn’t want to share the bathroom. I recall one trip when a person slept with a humidifier at home and we had to make a special trip to the store to purchase one for the two night trip because she insisted she’d not be able to sleep without it; thus disrupting the evening plans to make a trip to the store.

I know we can get so dependent upon our rituals and routines that when we are faced with change, we feel lost. I remember when my daughter had volleyball practice every Tuesday and Friday night and when the season was over, I didn’t know what to do with my “free time”. Of course in reality, as a mother of three kids there was inevitably another activity that took it’s place. In that season of my life, it was necessary to schedule time to rest!

But the prayer says to “rest in the unknown”. To me this means to become content with whatever comes next. I need to let go and allow God to have control. Trust in God!

I don’t know what tomorrow brings but God does! I want to spend more time resting in God and not worrying about things that COULD happen, God already knows! Today my goal is to participate in whatever comes at me and not anticipate what MIGHT be because if I’m too busy anticipating, I’ll miss out on what is happening right now! Plus, I could wear myself out worrying about tomorrow and then be too tired to face the task given. I think this is when we make mountains out of molehills.

Today, I am going to rest in the unknown because I trust God’s got me. It is time for me to let my beliefs be shown in the way I live my life! Let go and let God!