summer part II

Only about six weeks before I head back to Greencastle for my junior year at DePauw…a somewhat intimidating proposition, but a truth nonetheless.

I just got back from one of the most fulfilling weeks of my life (as it usually is) Teen Service Week. Teen Service Week is a week-long service retreat in the city of Chicago, involving teens from all over (Chicago and its suburbs, Marengo IL and even Wisconsin!) doing service and reflecting on how that service matters and impacts their lives, as well as reasons behind that service (why is it needed? what sorts of issues are behind the service being done?).  I served as a Peer Minister this year on the week, my second year doing so, and I had a great time working with my Peer Ministry partner. I think we both learned and grew from one another, and worked really well together, which made the week a great experience overall. It is so inspiring to see a group of young people who enjoy doing service and to see them reflect on their lives and where their faith fits into all of that. That said, this week was not an exclusively Catholic affair. One of our leaders is a member of the Lutheran faith and one of the teens is Presbyterian, so I hope our very open manner of prayer and reflection helped them feel included in our community of service and prayer.

The week helped me create some very solid goals and has made me realized how I’ve minimized the role of service in my life, and how I have taken some things for granted in my life. One of the biggest offenses I feel I’ve committed is how I’ve taken some of the relationships in my life for granted, which I realized fairly early in the week and came fully to light as me and my Peer Ministry partner were planning our prayer for Wednesday night and we found and used this quote from Albert Schweitzer:

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

Everyone on Teen Service Week this week lit (or rejuvenated) my light this week, and for that I thank you. Thank you to the rest of you who are my “spark” as well (hopefully you know who you are at this point).

Now I ask you who are reading this to do two things:
1) listen to “If You’re Out There” by John Legend; it was the theme song for this year’s Teen Service Week, it’s an inspirational call to service
2) go “out there” and be someone’s spark, and thank those who have sparked your own life.

-MJH

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