The Young Adult planning team had its first meeting for our March retreat today. Our focus was to come up with our theme, and then to brainstorm on some ideas for the day. One of the things that we always struggle with are ways that we can help people take the retreat experience home with them. It’s easy to address big issues, meet new people, and get in touch with your spiritual side when you put everything aside for one day and focus on just that. But how do you keep it going? How do you implement practices for everyday life?
That’s going to be our theme for the next retreat. We’re going to gather ideas of 
things that each of us do every day as part of our spiritual practice, have opportunities for participants to try them out, and then send them home with the tools to make some of what they’ve learned a daily practice. So, for example, one of the team members will likely lead the Rosary in a break out session, and we will give out instructions on how to do it, and give each participant a Rosary to take home. We’ll also have “less structured” things for people, who (like myself) might be more comfortable journaling daily, but would not be as drawn to a more formal practice.
I’m excited about this idea. Each of us has things that we do, every day, that bring us closer to the Creator, and closer to our spiritual center. Lots of times young adults just need a nudge, or an introduction to a topic, and that will open the door to a new way of thinking for them. If there’s a daily practice that can help them in communing with God in a new way, it’s great to get an introduction to that idea at a retreat.
Today’s meeting reminded me of how much I love the creative process in planning our retreats, and how I treasure the group and our ability to feed off of one another for great ideas. I truly missed them, and the group dynamic, in the last retreat I led.
How do you prefer to spend Spiritual time? What ways have you found to commune with God on a daily basis?