Materials needed: Pillows (have youth bring from home), Projector and Music

So many students today are overwhelmed with youth group activities, sports, jobs, school work and socializing. Though these things are all good, we easily can forget to spend time with God. Our restlessness and business drives us further from God. We fill more of our time with activities instead of with God. This is the very reason that retreats can be so powerful and life-changing. During these weekends, we set aside all of our time to devout solely to God. What happens? We hear His voice because we stopped to listen.

Here is an activity to do after a retreat weekend or at any time your students need to be reminded of how important it is to make time for God.

Start the activity by asking students to write down all they have done in the past week. Tell them you will give a prize for the person with the longest list. Everyone loves a pity party for their busy lives, so this could be pretty fun if you keep it lighthearted. Offer a silly prize for the busiest student in your group. (If you have a really large group, you could do this in small groups and give one award to each group.)

After this activity, talk for a few minutes about how busy our lives have become and how that can keep us from God. Introduce the next activity.

Have the kids spread out over the room and lie down on their pillows. Tell them there will be some time for prayer and reflection. Turn off the lights, and turn on the projector and music. Project images on the ceiling if you are able.

Begin by showing events with a lot of noise and sound: a traffic jam, shopping mall, daycare center, etc. Go through a few of these scenes. Let your next set of scenes be of houses or other places that are a little quieter. Finally, show very peaceful scenery such as open fields, the ocean, a starry sky or chapel. While in this set of scenes, play a song (I choice Audrey Assad’s “Restless” because it fits perfectly.), then go into two to three minutes of complete silence. Basically what you will be doing is taking the student through a progression from noise to silence so they can begin to hear God speak to them. It is a practice that takes time.

After the silence, read Scripture or Bible story and then go immediately into your time of worship. At the conclusion of worship, leave time for the teens to talk and share about their experiences. Help give them practical suggestions for finding quiet time alone with God.